Pavel Sivakov cut a dejected figure speaking to the media at the end of his best stage of the Giro d'Italia (video below). And now the Ineos Grenadiers rider has explained he'd just accidentally wiped all his data from that day, adding it was all he could think about when being interviewed by reporters.
Sivakov proved vital for his team leader - and maglia rosa - Richard Carapaz in the finale of stage 16 as the ultra dependable Richie Porte punctured and never saw the front of the race again, leaving Sivakov as the only domestique Carapaz had to call on.
While Sivakov said he was very pleased to be among the last five or six riders in the select group - chasing down the last remaining breakaway men - he was clearly annoyed he'd deleted what he believed were some of the best numbers he has ever produced.
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"It was a super tough day, basically three super tough climbs, including the Passo di Mortirolo," he said. "I think it was my biggest day out in terms of load, kilojoules and all that kind of stuff. I had something like 7,000 calories burned," he said in his rider diary for The Cycling Podcast.
"But there was a bit of rain during the last downhill and my screen was wet. Nowadays, I think we're all a bit geeky with the numbers and stuff. And unfortunately on the Garmins, it's a touch screen, and when it gets wet sometimes and you press in one place it's actually somehow pressing another spot.
"So, yeah, I pressed 'save my ride' and it presses 'discard'. You have to press it two times and so I pressed 'save' again so I could quit 'discard'. But it pressed 'discard' again and it discarded the ride.
"At the same time I was asked to do an interview, so I was like saying 'oh shit' in my head. So I wasn't really concentrated on the interview. In my head I was only thinking about the fact I discarded a ride and that I was pissed."
