On Friday, a 172 kilometer long, mountain top finish stage was held at the Czech Tour. In addition to the first category climb, the stage included another small ascent, and there was something else: heat. Like Hungary, the Czech Republic has been experiencing inhuman weather these days.
One of our preliminary goals was achieved: Team United Shipping’s jersey included in the breakaway thanks to Zétény Szijártó. We did not score any points this time, but the breakaway remained ahead until the foot of the last climb.
At the beginning of the climb, the world’s cycling public was able to see wonderful scenes: alongside Visma, Team United Shipping set the pace at the front of the peloton. Soon, Erik Fetter attacked, staying ahead of the main group for at least a kilometer.
Unfortunately, the guys couldn’t handle Visma’s change of pace. Their captain Cian Uijtdebroeks attacked, leading the first group throughout, but losing the sprint to Junior Lecerf. Bálint Feldhoffer finished as the best TUS rider with 29th place.
Zétény on his attack:
“Since there was only one KOM sprint today, Michal rested and Jani (Pelikán) and I were assigned to go for the breakaway. Although the peloton didn’t let the attack go easily on the first attempt, it wasn’t a big fight to get it going. Let’s say it was average. (…) (…)
Yes, we had a big advantage. Even 30-40 kilometers before the end, we got some information that the bunch had stopped for a bit. Then the gap grew a little and everyone gave it a little more effort, but we were already pretty tired by then. (…) I didn’t go for the points. The KOM sprint didn’t feel too good either, I wouldn’t have had much of a chance there anyway today.”
Bálint was a little disappointed:
“Yesterday we discussed how Erik and I could fight for the best possible position, and the team would help us with this. They apparently did this very well, because they kept us at the very front of the bunch and even set the pace, which was good for the media coverage. I thought a top 10 or 15 was achievable in advance, but the guys from Visma and Erik started attacking pretty quickly. From then on we went in full gas, I could no longer follow them. However, it is clear that the bunch is very strong, because based on the numbers I was approaching my best form, but in the end it turned out to not be enough, so I rode the last few kilometers calmly and saved energy for the next two days. I will have a chance to improve on Sunday. I was a little disappointed. Training has been difficult in the last few months. I really wanted to achieve a good result, to get back the momentum that I had for example, during the Tour de Hongrie. At the same time – as I wrote – I produced good numbers for myself, that’s at least a positive sign.”
📷Photos: www.czechtour.com, Richard Principe