KEEPING THE STREAK OF PODIUMS – MOHORIÄŒ 2ND AT STAGE 5 TOUR DE POLOGNE
|
The queen stage of Tour de Pologne went 172km between ChochoÅ‚ów and Bielsko-BiaÅ‚a. Breakaway was consistent during the day and at first 6, but later only 4 riders were trying to get to the finish line before peloton, but Ineos and we worked at the front to pull the break in the last 5km.
|
| Three 1st category classified climbs did not shake the peloton, and they all came into the circuit (3×7.5km) that had a punchy climb. Three times through that climb reduced the peloton, but a sprint between about 30 riders decided the race. At 300m, MohoriÄ was boxed and had to find a way to the centre of the road, but by the time he got full speed, he managed to get to second place, just behind Niklas Arndt. With such a speed, he needed 2-3 meters more to win it. |
MohoriÄ gained 6 seconds on GC leader Almeida and is now only 2 seconds behind. He passed Kwiatkovski for the point leaders and will be wearing a white point leader skin suit in tomorrow’s trial.
|
|
|
| Matej MohoriÄ: “Today was another good stage result for us, but I’m not happy with second place. It’s a bit frustrating with all the second and third places that I got in last periods, but on the other hand, it could also be worse; it’s still an excellent result. I’m looking forward to the time trial tomorrow. There is no chance to be boxed out like today; everybody is on their own against the clock, no hiding there. I think Joao Almeida is a big favourite to win it, but I will do my best to try and get a podium on GC, and we’ll see how it goes. I’m really looking forward to it.” |
| Tim Harris, our SD: “Today was another bittersweet day with excellent riding by the team and with Matej MohoriÄ just getting beaten on the line. Dylan Teuns was also in the group sprinting for the win, but unfortunately, somebody crashed into him, so we had to change the bike literally 250 meters to go. So at the moment, Matej is second overall down by 2 seconds, while tomorrow is 19km time trial, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. All in all, it was a good day, but just again not quite a victory.” |
| Tomorrow is deciding time trial stage for General Classification before we wrap up the 7 day Tour de Pologne with a sprint stage on Sunday. |
| (All pictures can be used for editorial and non-commercial usages only and are copyright @Bettiniphoto @TeamBahrainVictorious) |
|
