As we opened a little gap Di Gregorio, who rode with me as an amateur, rode past urging me on. "C'mon
Nico, let's go, let's go!" I told him it wasn't me he should be encouraging, but the guys who were sitting at the back of the group. I was keen to keep things moving and did a few good turns on the front as others argued about who should be riding or not.
It was Jeannesson's presence, however, that ultimately doomed the move.
Although he was just one place ahead of me in 17th and no real threat in the overall standings, the young French rider lay fourth in the white jersey competition. The rest of us knew that if he stayed in the move, we wouldn't be allowed open a decent gap.
Christian Knees, the big German from Sky, was down the back and after listening to his team manager in his earpiece spoke to me in English.
"Nico, tell Jeannesson that if he stays here, they're going to keep chasing behind. He needs to sit up."
Acting as mobile translator, I rode up to Jeannesson and told him that if he stayed in the break that we were going nowhere and he might as well save his energy for another day and go back to the bunch. Jeannesson didn't want to sit up because Coppel, sixth in the white jersey competition was also in the break. Jeannesson was afraid he would overtake him in the best young rider competition if the rest of us stayed clear.
I relayed the information to Knees. "
Okay, tell both of them to stop or we keep chasing." At this point, we had ridden flat out for 17km or so, but the Sky-driven peloton were still breathing down our necks. Ultimately, neither Jeannesson nor Coppel would stop riding unless the other one did, which meant that neither of them stopped and we were caught with 65km to go, after a dogged 20km chase by Sky.
As the Sky train made contact with Jeannesson and the back of the break, some of the front portion kept going, and were joined by some of the front of the peloton including world champion
Thor Hushovd and Sky's Edvald Boassen Hagen. Satisfied with catching Jeannesson, though, and placing another man in the new move, Sky sat up and the break had 40 seconds in a flash. They were gone for the day, taking almost five minutes by the finish.
It was so frustrating. I missed the move by three metres. If I'd been near the front I might have stayed away and moved back up the standings or been able to fight for a stage win.
