Tour of Bulgaria
The first “normal” stage was held in Bulgaria on Sunday after the Saturday evening prologue. We could have thought beforehand that the finish in Burgas will be a bunch sprint, and that’s what happened in the end. Of course, there were several attempts during the stage; those had to be dismantled by Team United Shipping. We arrived to the flamme rouge with two of our sprinters with a great chance, but in the end, it was close for Mihajlo Stolić and Nikiforos Arvanitou to fall into each other. Our sprinters’ handlebars did touch each other, but fortunately they survived the crash. Niki finished second, and took the lead in the general classification, and Mihajlo got fourth, granting him the points jersey.
Niki gave a concise assessment:
“All day long attacks came after attacks. The whole team did a great job being active and closing the gaps or being on the attack. The guys did a great job in the final ten kilometers too. I made a mistake in the last corner and both me and Stolic lost a lot of speed and that costed us the win today.”
This is how Mihajlo saw the first stage:
“Today’s stage was very intense, with constant attacks in the peloton. I was present in many attempts, and my teammates did a great job bridging across whenever it was needed. I’m really grateful for that. They also supported me perfectly in the final kilometers as we prepared for the sprint. I know this finish in Burgas quite well, so I was motivated.
In the last corner, Niki and I almost went down when our handlebars touched each other. Unfortunately, our speed and our positions were gone. Naturally, we’re not fully satisfied, because in this race our goal is to collect as many stage wins as possible and also fight for the GC.
I also targeted the intermediate sprints, winning the first one, while the second was taken by a rider from the breakaway. Even though I’m not satisfied with 4th place at the finish, I did manage to take the green jersey, and tomorrow I’ll wear it proudly. One of my main goals will be to defend it all the way to the end of the race.”
GP Kranj
In Slovenia, the TUS guys raced in the hilly GP Kranj. Chaos was expected in advance due to the city track. The breakaway finally went away, which the pro-continental teams were able to control. However, the attacks increased in the last lap. The main bunch of 30-40 people caught the last attack at the beginning of the last kilometer. The long sprint was won by Mexican José Juan Prieto from Petrolike. The best place was taken by Bálint Feldhoffer from Team United Shipping, who finished in 6th place.
Bálint gave us his assessment of his race:
“I had good feelings all day, this technical course with many small climbs was quite easy for me. It was clear to me that it will be a bunch sprint at the end, and based on the results so far, I could have expected that. In the end, a large group sprinted together, but since it was uphill, I knew I had a chance. I was able to start the sprint from a pretty good position, but I was unlucky. I got stuck on the right side of the road, which caused me to lose almost all of my momentum, and when I finally managed to launch again – there were about only 150 meters left – I made a big move and fought my way up to sixth place. It hurts a bit because I know I could have finished higher if we had done the lead better, but this only motivates me to be even better in the next race.”
Our trainee Márkó Tóth finished in 19th place:
“We didn’t have a very complicated race plan today, especially since there were only five of us. Zsombi and Szabi (Palumby & Csáki) tried to get into the breakaway, and the three of us (Feldhoffer, Tóth, Schuran) tried to save as much as possible for the last laps. I felt good the whole time, there was a crash not far from me in the last two kilometers, which unfortunately threw me off a bit. The race was quite controlled because of the larger teams, and the route wasn’t that conducive to the breakaway. Zsolt (Dér) told us to expect this scenario. The end was quite difficult. Mainly because of the crash, but after that I still managed to move forward which took some important watts out of me. I felt that I still had a good sprint left in me for the end. This is how it turned out this time. Maybe next time!”
📷Photo: Ian Chen
