Craig Lewis (HTC-Highroad) (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Craig Lewis (HTC-Highroad) spent much of the first half of the Giro d'Italia working for Mark Cavendish but still had the legs to go on the attack during Friday's big mountain stage to Grossglockner.
The break fell apart as riders began attacking each other and Lewis eventually finished 13 minutes down on stage winner Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli) and race leader Alberto Contador. However he vowed to attack again in search of a stage victory before the Giro ends in Milan on May 29.
"You might as well try." he told Cyclingnews as he put on multiple layers of clothing for the descent of the Grossglockner to the team bus parking.
"We've had our success in the race and it's great to have Kanstantsin Sivtsov up there too. But the pressure is off, so that gives us the freedom to try something. I don't want to be just another guy sat in the peloton, there are plenty of those already.
"It was nice to get to be up front and have a go for myself. You have to want to do it. It's not going to happen for you. But I've been recovering well and felt good, so I went for it. It was exciting to be up there."
More attacks in the last week
With his tempo riding over after Mark Cavendish and Mark Renshaw quit the Giro after a second sprint win in Ravenna, Lewis is hoping for more opportunities in the Giro. With Alberto Contador in control of the maglia rosa, Lewis expects he will let breaks go rather than use up his Saxo Bank-SunGard team to keep the peloton under control.
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"The GC is starting to shake out now and will do more so in the next few days. I think that will mean there will be a lot of breakaways in the last week that will make it all the way to the line," he predicted.
"There are hard stage are really this weekend and there's no reason for the overall guys to control breaks a lot. I'll try and get in the right move again and see if it stays way."
The Giro d’Italia continues today with the 14th stage today up the fearsome Monte Zoncolan.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
