Josh Tarling was praised for his aggressive riding in the breakaway on stage 17 of the Tour de France after the Netcompany Ineos rider made several attacks and a late surge to try to win from the breakaway in Voiron.
Teammate Michał Kwiatkowski highlighted Tarling's 'grinta' after the stage, using the Italian word to describe his fighting spirit and determination.
The 22-year-old Welsh rider fractured his collarbone and a rib during the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes but trained through his recovery and was rewarded with a place in the Netcompany line-up. He struggled in the early stages but appears to have improved during the Tour. On Tuesday he finished tenth in the hilly and technical time trial, beating teammate Filippo Ganna and many of the other time trial riders in the Tour.
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On Wednesday, Tarling joined the breakaway of the day and then went on the attack with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek). He even tried a last-kilometre attack when the sprinters took control of the breakaway.
"It was exciting to be in the break. I had terrible legs at the start of the Tour, so it was nice that I could try and show them. I didn't quite have it in the final, but I had to try," Tarling told Eurosport after the stage to Voiron.
Kwiatkowski was far more talkative, praising Tarling for his performance.
"In the first week Josh didn't feel great but he was fighting for the win. He attacked in the final kilometre and that's just proof that he's got grinta," Kwiatkowski told Eurosport.
Netcompany Ineos have endured a difficult Tour considering their historic results and usual high standards of performance.
The British team were left without Tour team leader Oscar Onley after his crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and were forced to make late changes to their line-up, opting to leave Carlos Rodríguez at home.
They appeared to specifically target victory in the opening Barcelona team time trial but finished second to Visma-Lease a Bike. Thymen Arensman soon fell out of the GC battle and other riders have struggled in the fight for stage victories. Stage 17 was perhaps their best performance as they placed Tarling, Kwiatkowski and Egan Bernal in the big break of the day.
Kwiatkowski insisted the riders would continue to try to win the final stages of the Tour de France.
"We've been unlucky so far and pretty close on a few days. Obviously, we're never giving up. We have moral, so we're really trying to bring home a stage," he said.
"Josh has a bright future. It was a super strong group and so just being there and trying to deliver the victory is the right mindset. The victory will come sooner or later."
Kwiatkowski missed three months of racing after suffering severe bruising and muscular damage in a high-speed crash at Milan-San Remo. But he knows how to read a race and joined a dangerous attack with Mads Pedersen at one point during stage 17.
"I was just on his wheel, basically, I got lucky," he admitted.
"I didn't move much the entire day because I don't have so much legs, but I can smell it when something's going on. Mads obviously was keen to attack. The group was big and so it was about just taking an opportunity."
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