Roulston dedicates Tour of Denmark stage win to son
Hayden Roulston won the last stage of the Tour of Denmark in style last night, dedicating his win to his young son Moses.
“I was flying today, it was such a great feeling going over the line and holding my hands up; the win was for my boy Moses,” Roulston said.
Stage 6 included four laps of a key section of the 2011 World Championship circuit with the finish line on the final straight of next year's World Championships course in Copenhagen.
After several breaks were reeled in, Roulston made his move with 45 kilometres to go taking Australian Jack Bobridge (Garmin – Transitions) and Belgium rider Bert De Backer (Skil – Shimano) with him.
“I took control of the group and we worked hard to get a good gap, then we floated for a bit with the peloton around one minute 30 seconds back.”
“Right from the start of the break I told them we had to get to 20 kilometres to go with a gap, and from there we would need to ride full gas to the finish line – and that’s exactly what happened.”
“It was a very, very hard stage. It was a super wet and was also very fast – we averaged 52 in the first hour but I after the time trial I knew I was starting to find my legs, and today my legs were great.”
Roulston had finished fifth in the previous nights 20 kilometre individual time trial and combined with his win feels his mind and body are on track for a very strong second half of the season.
“I really felt like the old me was back and it was a great feeling. I really got to enjoy the win. It’s been a while since I’ve had my arms in the air and the feeling was amazing.”
With one kilometre left the trio only had a 10 second advantage over the chasing peloton. Roulston went to the front and with 600 metres left De Backer started his sprint.
“With the bunch basically on us he (De Backer) started sprinting; I took his wheel, then launched and pulled away.”
Roulston won in four hours, three minutes and 17 seconds, with Danish rider Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank) leading the chasing bunch sprint home two seconds later.
“The win has now confirmed I can do it. I’ve always known I had results like this in me but sometimes it just takes a while to crack it. Now I’ve done it I feel I can do it again and it has given me good confidence for lies ahead for the rest of the season.”
Roulston's win also capped an excellent week for his HTC-Columba team that won the team’s classification and had three wins with three different riders during the tour.
He had recently been home in New Zealand for a brief stint to take a short break and to celebrate the first birthday of his son.
Ends
Photo credit; CyclingPhoto.eu
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