| IT’S MATEJ DAY IN POLAND AFTER ANOTHER MOHORIČ MASTERCLASS |
| Just nine days after a thrilling, nail-biting and emotional victory on stage 19 of the Tour de France, Matej Mohorič raised his arms again on Sunday as the Tour de Pologne saw its toughest summit finish vanquished by the all-conquering Slovenian. |
| Immediately afterwards, Mohorič was understandably satisfied with his both performance, and his current form: |
| “Today I had incredible legs. Since the Tour actually I have been feeling crazy good in training, and I was really looking forward to racing here without any pressure.” |
| The first 130 of the 203 kilometres between Leszno & Karpacz were relatively flat, but from then on the peloton had to tackle five summits, including the final 6.9k at 5.2%, the last 1.5k at 9.5%, and ramps of 15%. |
| With a small breakaway caught 24km out, UAE and Ineos led at the front of the bunch with Bahrain Victorious, and our entire team worked together, executing the day’s plan perfectly. |
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| Matej was full of praise for his colleagues: |
| “The guys did incredible work today. I think this was the best team performance since I became a part of the team, so I really, really want to thank the guys today.” |
At the denouement of the stage, it was Rafal Majka (UAE) who attacked first at his home race, to the delight of the Polish fans. He was soon joined by Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Destiny), and the pair quickly opened up a significant gap. But Mohorič timed his jump across to them perfectly, catching with 100m to go, and pushing on. Behind him came two of the strongest riders in the World Tour: João Almeida (UAE) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos). But they couldn’t stop Matej taking a third win in six weeks, his second in Poland, and the 20th of an already glittering career.
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| “I was almost nervous in the final because it’s not usual for me to have good legs like this. But I knew I wanted to do my best and give everything all the way to the line. |
| I thought someone would get across to me but this time they didn’t, so I’m happy and proud” |
| As well as the stage win, the 28 year old now holds the points jersey, and the overall lead on GC by four seconds from Almeida, and ten ahead of Kwiatkowski. |
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