Astana Sports Director Lars Michealsen said that all the Astana team rider rode at 100% in memory of their team mate Michele Scarponi who was tragically killed in Italy on Saturday morning at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race.
Michaelsen said: "It was a difficult race, not a usual race like others.
"It was a special day for us and we tried our best to do it like a team. There is no recipe how to do a race in such circumstances.
"It was our common decision as a team to start today and to give our 100% in honour of Michele. These things are never easy and will never be."
The team were led by Jakob Fuglsang who finished fifteenth in the race won by Alejandro Valaverde ahead of Dan Martin and Michael Kwaitkowski and Michaelsen added: "For Jakob the main motivation was to finish the race for Michele, he was not thinking about himself.
"Of course, he wanted to do as good as he could. But the most important for him was to ride for 100% and to finish it for Michele. With Michele they discussed this race a few days before, and it was important for Jakob to live this day in the race."
By Kev Monks for Digital Sports Group
Source: DSG
