ProTeam Lionel Taminiaux rounds off successful week with second place in Paris-Chauny

Taminiaux had already put together an impressive run of results. On Tuesday, he won the Textielprijs Vichte, on Wednesday he finished fifth in the Lotto Omloop van het Houtland, and on Friday he was once again the strongest in Zwevezele Koers. Today, he added a second place in Paris-Chauny. “The team did a perfect job in the preparation for the sprint. We had everything under control in the final five kilometres. We did it exactly as we had agreed in the meeting. Everyone carried out their task to the metre.”

Taminiaux entered the final corner slightly further back than he had hoped. “I think I entered the final corner around tenth position, which is actually a little too far back. I then came through with speed in Bittner’s wheel, who launched his sprint from quite far out. I came past him in the final metres, or at least that’s what I thought. I was also quite sure that I had won. Looking at the photo finish, it was extremely close.”

The second place is a slight disappointment after such a strong week, but Taminiaux can mainly look back with plenty of confidence. “Of course, it’s a shame that I didn’t win today, because I felt I could win the race, or maybe even had won it. But above all, I have to be happy with this week, with my two victories in Vichte and Zwevezele, my second place today and my fifth place in the Houtland. I don’t think the week could have gone any better for me. Being able to produce a result like this in a bunch sprint like today also gives me a lot of confidence.”

Photo: PhotoNews