Russell Downing (Sky) (Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Russell Downing (Team Sky) is riding his first grand tour and suffered on the first big mountain stage to Grossglockner on Friday after coming down with a cold. However he made it up the Zoncolan on Saturday and finished in the gruppetto on Sunday after climbing the five major climbs during the 22km stage.
"I was yo-yoing off the back of the gruppetto on Friday and only just made it back on a couple of times but fortunately that was the worst moment," he told Cyclingnews.
"I spun a low gear up the Zoncolan and fortunately today we had a big [time] limit to play with. I've made it and now I'm even looking forward to the last week of the race."
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Cyclingnews caught the moment Downing made it back to the Team Sky bus after the stage to Gardeccia. He was tired and a little unsteady on his legs after eight and half hours on the bike but was happy to have made it.
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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).
