December 20/08 9:50 am - Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica: Stage 6, A Win for Cortes

Posted by Editoress on 12/20/08
 

Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica Costa Rica

Phil Cortes sent along this note after his win of Stage 6

Well the bad news is that I lost my sprint jersey today...

The good news is that I won a 3-up sprint for the stage win.

The team did a lot of work for me leading up to the first intermediate sprint but it wasn't meant to be. With a break of three up the road, the battle was for the last sprint point. I subsequently lost the sprint for the last spot, got kind of frustrated with myself and decided to send some of my guys up the road for the second sprint.

It was the Brit David McLean who got away and took the fourth spot in the second sprint at km 99. When he took the point the local Pizza Hut-BCR team decided to reel him back, and it was then that I made a snap decision to roll off the front in an attempt to bridge to the break, which was 2:30 up the road before the final sprint of the day.

Needless to say, that attempt failed and so too did my chances of keeping the points jersey streak alive. I finally made it to the break at km 142, about 40k from the finish and for a while it looked bleak ... but a little bit of insistence, and we stabilized the gap at 1:10 with about 6k to go. It was then that I started thinking about the finish.

I knew that one of the Cubans, Cardoso, was a little faster than I was finishing, but never in my mind did I think that he'd fall off pace in the final km. It was here that I believed that I could take the stage ... rounding the final corner with about 450m to go I dove towards the finish line. It was here that I'd almost be caught by my other two breakaway companions.

I would like to thank everyone who has believed in me all along, I owe alot of this to you!! My team Amore & Vita-McDonald's, who also has stood with me thru a long season, also deserves a huge thank you!!