Visma | Lease a Bike blame Barré’s Deutschland Tour setback on Del Toro, Pellizzari and the rain

Isaac del Toro seized control of the Deutschland Tour and Giulio Pellizzari won the stage, but the biggest victim of their decisive move was undoubtedly Visma | Lease a Bike. The Dutch team lost the leader’s jersey held by Louis Barré after two friends based in San Marino joined forces at the front of the race. Del Toro, Pellizzari and Visma | Lease a Bike all reflected afterwards on what happened during Stage 3.

“We knew it was going to be a special day, so we tried,” said Del Toro, who blew the race apart on one of the many climbs in the queen stage and took Pellizzari with him. Barré was unable to follow and suddenly found himself in serious trouble. The two riders at the front never eased off, while Barré and Visma | Lease a Bike were forced to take responsibility for the chase behind.

Del Toro described UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s work as “a good lead-out” towards the point where the Mexican leader launched his attack, already 35 kilometres from the finish. “On a course like this, it’s not so easy to ride away, so we had to try from a long way out, before the others started. We knew we had to do something and I enjoyed it.”

The fact that Pellizzari eventually latched onto his friend’s wheel completed the story. The pair live in the same building in San Marino and therefore immediately understood one another. Del Toro rode flat out for the general classification, while Pellizzari — who had already been further down on GC — wanted the stage victory. Del Toro will now start Sunday’s final stage with a 52-second advantage. “I hope I can finish it off, although it will still be a tricky stage.”

For Pellizzari, it was another memorable day. Having recently won a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos, he struck again in Germany. “We wanted to repeat Alessio Magagnotti’s victory from yesterday. It wasn’t easy, but we were in the perfect position and when Isaac went, I controlled my effort and managed to come back to him.”

“In the end, we worked really well together. He wanted the general classification and I wanted the stage,” Pellizzari explained. The fact that the two know each other so well naturally helped. “Isaac and I are very good friends. We often race against each other and I’m happy for him that he is the leader. It was a perfect day for him, for me and for San Marino.”

For Barré, it was a much more frustrating day. The Frenchman held his own in the chasing group but dropped to second place in the general classification. Although Visma | Lease a Bike moved to the front of the peloton, the team was unable to neutralise Del Toro’s attack. Barré initially tried to follow the Mexican but quickly had to settle into his own rhythm.

“In the chase, the team gave everything, after which Barré attacked again, but in the end the Frenchman was unable to make the difference. Barré lost the overall lead to Del Toro, but after his strong performances over the past few days, he heads into the final stage in second place,” the team concluded through its official channels. Barré now trails Del Toro by 52 seconds in the overall standings.

Sports director Gaëtan Pons accepted the outcome of the day. “The whole team did an incredibly strong job, but unfortunately the result wasn’t what we had hoped for. We had the race well under control, but when it started raining extremely hard and it became cold, Louis unfortunately didn’t react well to it. When Del Toro eventually attacked, Louis initially seemed able to follow, but in the end he had to let him go.”

“It’s a shame that we’ve lost the lead in the general classification, but tomorrow there is another stage in which a lot can happen. We will continue to race aggressively and the motivation is high. I’m looking forward to it.”