The only mountain finish of this year’s Tour of Romania was held in the Carpathians on Thursday. The bunch faced 5 climbs on the 172 kilometre stage. The breakaway formed quite slowly, but after one of the steep climbs, our Greek sprinter Nikiforos Arvanitou also found himself there. Niki and his group were caught at the beginning of the mountain top finish.
The selection started quickly on the mountain, but fortunately Bálint Feldhoffer remained at the front. Bálint was dropped by the leading trio at about the 3-kilometre gate, but he remained in sight and finally finished 24 seconds behind the winner Cesare Chesini.
Bálint about the mountain finish:
“It was a very tough stage because I didn’t really feel well, I had mild symptoms of illness, so it was very difficult to hold on and believe that I could be good. None of the mountains went very well, especially one of the steep climbs, where because of the high pace I felt so bad, I even told Erik (Fetter) that he can go for himself. About 6 kilometres before the finish, a guy from Vorarlberg launched an attack on us. After that, we worked together for a while, but when the guy from WSA accelerated, only me and a rider from MBH could keep that pace. After a while, it was too much for me and I was dropped. When I knew that there wasn’t much left, I picked up the pace to catch the front, which I almost did, but that little extra was missing today. From now on, we will try to defend this GC position and focus more on sprints, and a stage win.”
Niki about his breakaway:
“I felt good, I rode well. The original plan was not to attack, but after a steep climb a small group stayed ahead, and I followed some of them, and suddenly the breakaway happened. We didn’t even go for the intermediate sprints, we just passed them. I’m very happy for Bálint (Feldhoffer), he did great today. There will be some smaller climbs on Friday too, and it could rain and could be cold. Anything can happen on a stage like this. Above all, let’s take care of ourselves, and if we all stay together, then I’ll go for the sprint!”
📷Photo: Tour of Romania, Andrei Bălășan
