‘If you have the legs, you can find the opportunities’ – Sivakov looks to new start

Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) after comi💦ng second at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (Image credit: Getty Images)

Pavel Sivakov was supposed to be in Navarre on Sunday afternoon, racing towards Lekunberri in the Vuelta a España peloton. Instead, he found himself an ocean away in a rain-soaked Parc du Mont-Royal, riding to second place at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr&﷽eacute;al. You don’t have to be adaptable to be a pro 𝓡cyclist, but it helps.

The Frenchman had spent most of the summer cloistered at altitude, preparing himself to ride the Vuelta alongside Geraint Thomas, but at t👍he last moment, Ineos Grenadiers opted not to include him in their line-up. His imm🐻inent transfer to UAE Team Emirates almost certainly informed the decision.

It would have been understandable if Sivakov had downed tools and turned his thoughts to his new start as part of Tadej Pogačar’s guard in 2024, but he figured he might as well put his summer of hard labour to use during the final weeks of a campaign that saw a fine Giro d’Italia ended by a heavy crash. He placed fourth overall in Germany and he made the trip to Canada with a particular emphasis on the GP de Montréal.

“I was supposed to do the Vuelta, so it was hard for me to miss out on t𝓰hat, because I h༺ad good legs in that moment,” Sivakov said when he took a seat in the press room on Sunday afternoon. “But I accepted the situation, and I did a good Deutschland Tour. The courses in Plouay last week and Québec on Friday weren’t ideal for me, but I was super happy to be able to fight for the win today.

The rain that fell steadily over Montréal on Sunday added an extra degree of attrition to an already demanding course, where the 18 laps of the Mont-Royal circuit added up to some 4,842 metres of total climbing. Once UAE Team Emirates began paring down the peloton in earnest with three laps remaining, it became clear that168澳洲5最新开奖结果🦄: Adam Yates would be the dangerman in the finale and Sivakov stayed within sight of the Briton’s rear wheಞel as they took the bell.

“I saw UAE riding on the last laps, so I knew Adam Yates was going to attack in the finale,&rdq🔯uo; Sivakov said. “He’s very strong. I saw him moving up in the bunch, so I got o🍨n his wheel, and I was there when he put in a very big attack. I dropped back a little bit over the top, but I came back up to him. From there, we had to collaborate if we wanted to make it to the finish and that’s what we did.

Perhaps it was only fitting that Sivakov found himself off the front with his once and future teammate Yates, who has enjoyed something of a resurgence since swapping Ineos Grenadiers for UAE Team Emirates last winter. Alongside his primary role as Pogačar’s last man in the mountains, Yates has also managed to carve out some freedom for himself, notching up five wins across the campaign. Sivakov, still only 26 years of age, will doubtless hope to follow a similar trajectory.

Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events fr꧋om Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cyclin🐈g Plus. He is the author of , published by Gill Books.