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American eagle 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Adrien Costa was swooping on him in the mountains and the gap was inexorably decreasing: 50 seconds, 40 seconds and now 30 with still five kilometres to go. But 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nick Schultz, never panicked during stage 7 at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de l'Avenir.

The Australian all-rounder, the last man from an early breakaꦺway, did what he usually does: giving his all on a bik🌠e, finding out the ultimate resources within his body. "I didn't want to look behind me, so I only realised I had won when I went 200 meters from the finish line," Schultz said.

Suddenly Costa was a bit tired himself and the advantage raised aga♎in up to 40 seconds. For once, the mouse succeeded in the cat-and-mouse game, Friday, in t🍨he penultimate stage of the Tour de l'Avenir to the ski resort of Valmeinier, Savoy.

Schultz, nearly 22 years old, took in style, through the Fren🐼ch Alps, the first major victory of his career. He has already captured a stage of the Tour de Bretagne and a second rank overall at the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt, 7th at the Ronde de l'Isard and 10th at the Ronde de l'Oise, all UCI events, earlier this season.

"I am a battler on a bike," Schultz told Cyclingnews after his victory. "This is certainly because I have never been the best at my age. I had to work very hard and do my o🥃wn things. All my cyclist's life has been a matter of fighting."

It's true Schultz didn't go through the classical Australian system with the Under-23 Academy. Although he was crowned national champion in the points race and teampursuit as a Junior he was denied to join the "Cyclons" squad and, as a result, he decided to try his💝 own luck in Europe.

He was only 18 and didn't speak a single word of French when he 💙joined the club of Roanne in the area of Lyon. Now Schultz is🉐 fluent and a trainee for Orica-BikeExchange.

"I had some difficult times in this experience," he admits. "I was alone in an apartment, very far from my family, I was alone at first at the French races, I didnꦯ't know anybody, I didn't know what to do... ." Fortunately the Club Routier des 4 Chemins de Roanne – the "CR4C" in short – had previously developed riders such as Arthur Vichot (FDJ), Jérôme Coppel (IAM), George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and, during one season, raising star Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale). Schultz praises his "teammates and staff to have been extremely helpful."

But for his three seasons as part of the club, Schultz st🔯ands in an in-between situation: he was "too Australian" for the French recruiters and "too French" to some of the Austraꦅlian managers. The U23 national squad gave him some opportunities though. In 2014 he was selected to a few Classics in Italy and, in 2015 Spring, the national coach called him one week before U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège to replace some ill and injured riders.

"I was on vacation on the Cote d'Azur, off-the-bike, but I couldn't say 'no'," Schultz recalls in a laugh. "I really wanted to show what I could do and help the team as much as I could." He will never define himself like that, but the “Frenchie" Australian wa🎐s more or less a "gap stop" at that time. Then he became more and more legitimate.

Schu🔥ltz became a very respected domestique, as he supported his leaders Caleb Ewan or Rob Power, at some major events. Then he turned into a domestique deluxe in the⛎ 2015 Tour de l'Avenir, providing some strong support to Jack Haig to his second place overall.

Schultz joined the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:SEG Racing team this season, a team set up by Dutch cycling agents SEG to foster promising talent. "The team created important opportunities for me and offered me an ideal race calendar to develop," Schultz said of his stint with the team.&nbs൩p;

His status has grown💦 through 2016 and Schultz started the 'l'Avenir race as a co-leader among two or three other good climbers. He showed an impressive time trial Tuesday with a spot in top 15. Thursday, after he had a 'jour sans' on a gruelling stage to Tignes, he decided to🧜 race as a dark horse again.

"This is how I race and how I live: I take all the opportunities," Schultz says. It doesn't mean he is opportunistic, though, and all his staff and teammates praise him for his loyalty and social character, whether it's at the Natiꦬonal squad, the Continental SEG Racing that he joined this year, or Orica-BikeExchange where he has been a trainee at the Vuelta a Burgos – he will also race the GP Peter Van Pategem𓄧 in September with the WorldTour outfit.

For now he has not secured a pro contract for 2017. ไHe is not bitter or discouraged in anyway. "I will fight again," Schultz says.