Yesterday was a lot to do about Matteo Trentin’s action. The Italian of CCC took the full booty at the intermediate sprint Peter Sagan, while Sagan’s team had been in the lead all day to put the sprinters behind.
And it wasn’t the first time Trentin had stuck sticks in Sagan’s wheels. Also in stage 2, when both were in the early break, Trentin Sagan floored in the intermediate sprint.
Rumors immediately surfaced that Trentin would return to Deceuninck-Quick Step after this season and that way wanted to help Sam Bennett in the battle for the green jersey.
Steve Bauer, Trentin’s sports director at CCC, doesn’t want to hear about conspiracy theories. “One of Matteo’s goals in this Tour is to compete for the green jersey, even though he mainly wants to win a stage.”
When asked if he found Trentin’s action sporty, Bauer does not really answer. “If there are points to be won, Matteo does not want to pass them up. The Tour is still a long time, a lot can still happen and he wants to stay in the battle for the green jersey.”
–
Also at Bora-Hansgrohe they do not feel like controversy between Sagan and Trentin. “It is normal for every rider to try to win”, sports director Enrico Poitschke shrugs.
“He may also have a chance to go for the green jersey, you never know what could happen in the Tour. It’s Trentin’s right to sprint in that intermediate sprint.”
Despite the bad luck in the final sprint, Sagan did a good job for the green jersey. “It is important to gather points in the tough stages, because we’ve seen that Peter is not fast enough to win a flat sprint. We hope to be able to hit the tough stages in the coming days.”
–
