Extremadura stage race 2008

We reported recently Dan Lloyd's win at the Extremadura stage race 2008 and now we have a few words from him and Sean Kelly.

Dan Lloyd on the podium

Defying the odds, 27-year old Daniel Lloyd from Sunbury, (shortlisted for the Olympic Road Race) has won the Veulta Extremadura near Madrid.

Despite taking the yellow jersey on stage 4, the toughest of the tour, the race was far from over as the final 5th stage was held on a very demanding circuit. Added to this Daniel and his team (An Post / Sean KellyTeam) had to contend with the race's two strongest squads, who each had three riders in very close contention.

This situation led to constant attacks and eventually a leading group emerged and went 7-minutes clear of the majority of the riders.Daniel only had one team-mate Dan Fleeman with him, the others having worked very hard to keep their race leader in the front. The group stayed together with Daniel finishing safely in 19th place to take his and the team's first ever stage race win.

Sean Kelly on his way back to Ireland after covering Liege-Bastogne-Liege for Eurosport had this to say:

"It's great for the Dan and the team to get our first wins. Dan's been riding well in the semi-classics in Belgium and other races but its never come totally together until now. These races especially in Spain can easily be as tough of some of the very biggest races. The races are very difficult and competitive, we brought Dan in the team for his stage racing abilities, and now its paid off. The sponsors are really pleased like myself."

Dan himself is obviously over the moon:

"It's fantastic, I'm ecstatic, both for myself, and for the team who did so much for me. I've shown a lot of promise and had a lot of close 2nd places in the last 18 months, so to get an outright victory is both a relief, and a confirmation that I can be on the top step of the podium!"

Lloyd will remain in Spain for the next week, competing in the Vuelta Ascension, a three day UCI race starting Thursday.

Other neovite sponsored athletes doing well this season are Swedes Gustav Larsson (CSC) and Magnus Backstedt(Slipstream) and GB triathlete and time trialist Phil Jarvis.

Video
See video interviews with the two Dan's and Phil Jarvis - see the video