A final Top 20 for Frankie in Burgos

The Tour of Burgos brought Mayenne Monbana My Pie’s Spanish campaign to a close this Sunday. With a summit finish on the menu, the final stage was set to shake up the general classification. For the French ProTeam, Francesca Hall secured an overall Top 20 finish by taking 22nd place on Stage 4 to Lagunas de Neila.

Alice Coutinho, Kiara Lylyk and Constance Valentin also crossed the line, in that order. Fiona Mangan, still weakened by the illness she picked up before the race, did not start in order not to compromise the rest of her season. After her 9th place in Durango on Tuesday and this 20th place overall at WorldTour level, Francesca Hall continues to prove her value within the Mayenne Monbana My Pie squad. Next weekend, she will take part in the Unbound gravel in the United States before moving on to two mountainous events : the Alpes Grésivaudan Classic and the Volta Catalunya.

Francesca Hall : “I’m happy with the progress I’m making race after race, but I also know there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m still pleased to take my first WorldTour Top 20, even though my legs already felt heavy before the climb. The result really reflects all the work the team put in this week.”

Damien Pommereau, sports director. "Francesca showed once again that she’s there when things get tough. She finished 20th, but I think she was poorly positioned at the bottom of the climb. After that, it’s always about making efforts, closing gaps and fighting for places. What’s a bit frustrating is that she lost a minute unnecessarily on the second day. The goal was a final Top 15 and for her to reach this last stage on the same time as the favourites — that would have been a really strong performance at this level. The Top 20 was more realistic and we came very close. Without the 58 seconds lost on Stage 2, she would have finished 19th. Alice wasn’t far behind on the stage and overall either; a Top 30 reflects her current level well. Overall, the outcome is satisfying because this is still a WorldTour race with a very high level. We are where we belong, even if we always hope for more. Reality catches up with us sometimes — we don’t have a WorldTour roster with the best riders in the world. It’s also important for the team to have two riders in the top 30. It remains a very respectable performance from the team in a WorldTour race."

Results - stage 4 :

20 - Francesca Hall

29 - Alice Coutinho

43 - Constance Valentin

57 - Kiara Lylyk

Final general classification :

22 - Francesca Hall

27 - Alice Coutinho

53 - Kiara Lylyk

65 - Constance Valentin

Photo credit : Eduardo Saiz