Stage 2
A 167 kilometer stage was held on Friday in the Tour of South Bohemia. The cyclist’s life was made difficult by the rain on the many hills that are typical in this race. The breakaway formed as scheduled, and Erik Fetter joined them later in the second half of the stage.
Erik eventually got tired in the bad weather and left the attack. The stage was eventually won by the Dutchman Axel van der Tuuk, with Bálint Feldhoffer finishing in the peloton, 7 seconds behind the winner.
Erik commented after his escape:
“I only got into the breakaway in the second half of the stage. Attacks started quickly in the bunch, me and two others attacked from an already reduced group. After a while, four of us were left in the front, and we worked together quite well. Unfortunately, I was exhausted by the end, it was a very difficult day in the rain and cold, and on top of that, we dictated a very high pace. My legs are generally good, and my form is getting better. Saturday is going to be in favor of Bálint (Feldhoffer), but anything can happen in this race, we will have to be very alert, so we will try to race wisely with the whole team from the start.”
Michal Schuran had a tougher Friday:
“On Thursday I was feeling great, but today (Friday) because of the cold weather I had a little bit of empty legs. But on Saturday we do not expect rain so I am looking forward to the climbs. We will discuss the tactics before the stage with the directors. I would like to help Bállint as much as possible for a good result but I also think about the breakaway. But we will see tomorrow morning what will be our strategy for the queen stage.”
Stage 3
A stage with almost 3000 vertical meters was held on the third day of the Tour of South Bohemia. At the end of the stage, essentially a mountain top finish waited for the bunch. It seemed certain that the GC could depend on this climb.
Attacks followed attacks for most of the stage, and in the meantime, Visma and Lotto Development tried to control the events. Zsombor Palumby, Erik Fetter and Michal Schuran from Team United Shipping tried to help Bálint Feldhoffer. Once Erik Fetter went away with an attack. Bálint was finally left alone only for the last two climbs!
The stage was eventually won by William Smith from Visma. The best of the TUS was Bálint Feldhoffer, who finished 13th.
Bálint’s words on Saturday:
“It was a very difficult day. There were a lot of breakaway attempts and because of the high pace, it was difficult to rest for the finale. My legs were pretty good today. I was left alone on the last two hills, which was a difficult factor, but based on the numbers and the position, it can be considered as a good day. Obviously, I would be the happiest if I had actually finished in the top 10. We tried to catch up with the breakaway, but there was not enough cooperation in the group, so four of them were able to get home from the breakaway. There weren’t many attacks on the last hill anyway, everyone was tired, we just set a steady high pace, but that wasn’t enough to catch the breakaway.”
Zsombor Palumby on the queen stage:
“We started with a very high pace at the beginning of the stage and then we immediately headed for a climb, where there were continuous attempts. We were basically building on Bálint (Feldhoffer), but since a breakaway won on Friday, we had to pay attention to the attack for the whole time. Schuran was in the first attempts, and then I also had a promising attack. Then everyone got tired because of the continuous efforts, and we were in the second group with Bálint, Schuran and Erik (Fetter). From there, someone attacked, to which Erik reacted the best and they caught up with the first group. Two hills before the end, it started to get a bit too much for me, because Lotto attacked, followed by about 12 people. I finally arrived at the finish line with the third group.”
