In the absence of leaders tried Jumbo Visma in the final stage of the Tour of Burgos Chris Harper to play out. However, the Australian missed the break due to material problems, after which an early attack attempt on the Lagunas de Neila was also unsuccessful. Despite all the fighting spirit, Harper only finished 34th.
Jmbo-Visma will ride in the Tour of Brugos without her better climbers like Primoz Roglic and Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, giving a supportive rider like Harper his chance. While he showed himself with an attack on the steep climb to Lagunas de Neila, the original plan of the rider and team was a bit different. “We wanted to do everything we could to get Chris into the break,” says sports director Robert Wagner on the plow site.
However, the fight for the escape lasted a long time and Harper had bad luck at a bad moment. “Unfortunately Chris had to change bikes at an unfortunate moment and was not happy. Then we were in a leading group with Robert and Edoardo (Gesink and Affini, ed.), which was a good situation for us. Only that group didn’t really get away either, unfortunately’, Wagner laments.
Harper will ride for BikeExchange next year
Despite the bad luck, Harper didn’t let it go. On the climb to Lagunas de Neila he tried to surprise the favorites with an early attack. ‘On the final climb Chris wanted to go for it. He attacked with seven kilometers to go, but was eventually caught back as well. He has tried to get everything out of it’, Wagner praises the fighting spirit of his rider. Harper pulls out after this season to Team BikeExchange-Jayco. In the Australian squad, he will act as an important support for Simon Yates in the mountains. Harper has been driving for Jumbo-Visma since 2022. His best performance was fourth place in the 2021 UAE Tour.