The one-day Visegrad 4 Bicycle Race Grand Prix Poland turned into an absolute masterpiece of aggressive racing across a rolling 165 km route from Głogów to Grebocice. Featuring 1274 vertical meters of climbing, the race ignited early as our squad executed a pre-arranged tactical plan to monitor and control the early breakaway moves. When the crosswinds began forcing echelons on the second lap, the peloton shattered into pieces, setting the stage for a spectacular tactical war where Nikiforos Arvanitou launched a brutal acceleration on the climb to force an elite selection. Despite being isolated against numerical powerhouses like ATT Investments, Voster Team, and Kasper crypto4me, who all held massive four-rider advantages in the closing 60 km, Niki marked every single counter-attack with immense composure. In the final kick to the line, Niki proved he was on an entirely different level, unleashing a devastating sprint to cross the line first ahead of Dominik Neuman of ATT Investments, securing the race victory at an incredible average speed of 44 km/h.
Over in Austria, the final stage of the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt delivered a brutal curtain closer with a staggering 3400 vertical meters packed into 169 km of intense climbing around Stift Aigen-Schlägl. Under ideal sunny racing conditions, our squad went on the attack immediately on the opening 7 km climb, successfully placing Máté Endrédi into a highly promising breakaway that quickly built a massive advantage exceeding 6 minutes. While the development teams eventually organized a furious chase to pull the move back on the final local circuits, and Márkó Tóth unfortunately had to abandon due to not feeling well, our remaining riders rallied magnificently. On the final wall, a vicious acceleration blew the front group apart, but heavy headwinds allowed the chasers to bridge back just before the line. Although Erik Fetter ran out of gas following an incredibly active day of riding, Michal Schuran did an amazing job guiding our climbers into position. Dominik Röber of Team Vorarlberg snatched the stage victory from a select group at an average speed of 40 km/h, but Zsombor Palumby utilized his sharp mountain bike explosiveness through the final two technical corners to secure a fantastic seventh place.
Niki’s pure dominance in Poland
“Today I raced possibly the most aggressive way I ever have. I teared up the peloton with an attack on the second lap’s climb, leaving only a select group at the front. Then, I attacked full gas two more times, shrinking the group even further.
After all that, I had to deal with basically unlimited attacks over the last 60 km or so. I managed to keep everything under control despite being alone at the front, while ATT, Voster, and Elkov-Kasper all had more than four guys, making it much easier for them.
There was truly an uncountable number of attacks today, but I felt like I was on another level and still had the legs to win the sprint!
Next race: Tour of Slovenia, and then Nationals, of course!”
Zétény’s smooth return to action
“I had a pretty good day. The focus was entirely on Niki, and the plan was to control the breakaway. Jani and Csongi did this at the beginning, and I was supposed to stay with Veljko for the end. In the second lap, however, the echelons started: we were still in the first group there, then after we closed back together, Niki attacked on the climb and went away with the front. From then on, we just followed the moves from behind.
It wasn’t bad to return to racing! Yesterday, in the second lap of the race, I still felt a bit that I wasn’t as strong as in the first one, but today I felt good all the way through, and this course suited me better too.
Now the second half of the season begins. As far as I know, I am going to the Tour of Slovenia, the National Time Trial Championships will be skipped this year, so the full focus will be on the National Road Race, which will be organized on home turf again, in Pannonhalma.”
Zsombi’s tactical climb and textbook sprint
“At the beginning of the last lap, Michal was able to get back. On one hand, it was good mentally that someone was still there with me, and on the other hand, similar to the penultimate lap, it helped to position me nicely at the most important moment, right before the climb.
As we started the last climb, Galimberti attacked very hard: only the GC leader Brazilian and a Visma guy could go with him. That pace was quite massive, but I suspected that the trio wasn’t enjoying it at the front either. Furthermore, the second half of the climb, which was a bit more gentle and rolling, led into a headwind and cross-headwind section, so I hoped that if we worked together, we could catch up to them. I also calculated that Quick-Step, besides defending the GC, would want to take the stage with another guy, because earlier Bravo, the yellow jersey holder, also took his turn.
Then it happened, we closed the gap. However, during the remaining part of the hill, there were constant attacks. Since I was alone at this point and the other teams were riding with multiple guys, I just followed the accelerations and waited for the end: I was pretty much done for anything else anyway. 😂 In the finish, I tried to turn in the best possible position in the last two technical corners, and then all out to the line! I thought I could throw the bike into the top 5, but 7th place is a bomb too. I felt very good all day, the guys all did their jobs beautifully, just as we discussed. I am grateful to them!
Fortunately, I managed to carry over the explosiveness from mountain biking, and I could draw experience and enough aggression from the sprint lead-outs of the past months. This came quite instinctively yesterday and today too, so that’s pretty cool.
I want to take advantage of this current momentum, so I hope the team counts on me for the Tour of Slovenia, and after that, I will compete next at the National Championships. It was a very beautiful four days with the team in Austria! 😇”
Máté’s day in the breakaway sun
“I had an active day: we started today’s stage with a 7 km climb, where a quite promising breakaway went away, and fortunately, I managed to get into it. There was a guy from almost every team, including Bálint Feldhoffer. After the climb, the field stopped because nobody had to work at the back: only Visma didn’t have a guy at the front, so it was expected that they would pull.
Our advantage was over six minutes at one point, even though we didn’t go very fast. Thanks to the large numbers, the cooperation was relatively good. I tried to spend as little time at the front as possible, since many were well-placed in the general classification, so it was much more important for them that we make it to the end. It seemed quite likely that the breakaway would hold out, but in the end, on the first small lap at the end of the race, they caught us.
From then on, Erik, Michal, and Zsombi took over the main roles, and Zsombi crowned the day with his 7th place. I think we had an almost perfect stage, real teamwork!
I am satisfied with the race. I was still a bit tired from the Peace Race, but I could still be relatively useful in a helper role. Now it will be good to be home for a bit and train, and my next races will probably be the National Championships.”
Photo: Marcell Lippai
