It’s a well-known fact that although riding under the British flag and born in Hereford, Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) feels every bit as French as he does from the nation of his birth. And it could be hard to quantify just how that affects the 25-year-old in his racing career, but Carr summed it up perfectly after winning stage 4 of the Tour of the Alps.
“I think it is quite a good mix of cultures to have the British real scientific view of cycling and then in France, it is more the old school panache and attacking,” Carr said in his post-race press conference.
“For me, I think cycling has changed quite a bit, maybe become a bit more data-based and more structured and I think that’s something that British culture is quite good for.
“From my point of view, I actually grew up in France so I never went through that system but I think that's a good mix to have because at the end of the day, it still comes down to a lot of mental skill and resilience and that’s not something you can see on a computer.”
Carr put both principles into practice as he had the bravado to initiate the early breakaway move with teammate Hugh Carthy before taking his time and attacking at just the right, calculated moment to distance Sergio Higuita and go solo 45km from the finish in Borgo Valsugana.
The brave move was even more impressive when taking into account how disappointed Carr had been from the first three days of racing in Italy and Austria. He’d originally arrived at the five-day race to take on the GC before heading to the Giro d’Italia but didn't break the top 80 on any stage until winning today.
“Coming here I was hoping to do a good GC. I went for almost three weeks of altitude where my girlfriend came with me to do all the cooking and everything like that just to look after me and make sure I was ready for this race and the Giro,” Carr said.
“Then when I arrived I felt like I was almost the worst rider in the bunch on the first two days because I think I had some problems with allergies and was actually really bad.”
Carr, who surpassed the record for the longest breakaway win at the Tour of the Alps in its current form on Thursday - a mark which he held from last year, had begun to question whether he was really in the shape he should have been ahead of a third Giro d'Italia appearance.
“I was doubting quite a bit whether I still had the fitness, then the team kept faith,” said the Brit before admitting he was dug out of the hole by EF Education-EasyPost and kept calm with the prospect of each day offering a new chance.
Of all the credits to give, Carr was likely the only person in all of professional cycling who thanked the cold and rain that fell at both stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps and La Flèche Wallonne, showing his Welsh roots after all.
“I think the rain yesterday helped me a lot so I was at my real level today,” he said. “In the right circumstances, I could’ve done a good GC here but it wasn’t meant to be so a stage win is really nice to take.”
