Bauer: "I pushed a bit hard a bit too early..."
“It's pretty fast up until the 12km mark,” said Jack Bauer (GRS), the rider with the third best time of the day so far. He offered a few comments on his race to LeTour.fr at the finish after posting a time that's 1'42” slower than Tuft (OGE).
“From 19km to the final corner at the end, it's a really hard headwind... at least it felt that way for me in my state of semi-consciousness. A TT on the coast is pretty rare, I guess and it'll be interesting to see what happens with the wind as the day goes on.
“Personally, there's nothing for me in this stage. The aim was to try and ride a little bit, with a little bit of pace on, so that I can give Dan [Martin] a decent appraisal of the conditions. He's obviously the only one of us on GC still and the only one of us that this stage really counts for.
“I think Dan will be alright. I really struggled between 12 and 17km: it's more up than down and I don't really defy gravity too well,” concluded the New Zealander. “Whereas Dan obviously does. Still, it'll be crucial for him to leave a bit of energy for the second half with that headwind. It's almost downhill at the beginning and I lost control a little bit and pushed a bit hard a bit too early.”