After cresting the climb, he quickly dropped back to the team car to pick up the last round of supplies, then ferried them up to the lead rider and his lieutenants.
Having to wait for Welsford, he had fallen about a minute behind the main group up front, completely losing sight of them.
It was a good thing he couldn't see what was happening in the final 1000 meters. Otherwise, if he'd had to watch Del Toro of the UAE Team—a rider three years his junior—launch an attack and ride solo to a stage victory, he would have been angry enough to spit blood.
Of course, when he followed his lead rider, Welsford, across the finish line 59 seconds behind the lead group and saw that Del Toro was now number one in the general classification, he still felt a pang of frustration.
'Rookies on other teams get every opportunity to show what they can do, but I don't. What kind of bullshit is that?'
