The bunch started the first stage of the Sibiu Cycling Tour in a heatwave. The temperature was 33 degrees even among the Carpathians for most of the day. Our new Hungarian time trial champion, János Pelikán, was in the breakaway. PJ was joined by Cariño, Voege, Colnaghi, Peschi, Nolde and Appel. Their lead remained under 5 minutes, the peloton controlled the breakaway led by Chris Froome.
As soon as the field arrived in Sibiu, our new Serbian champion Veljko Stojnić was attacking, but his lead of a few seconds was quickly eaten up by the field. The sprint was started from quite far by the eventual winner Riley Pickrell, who was followed by Lukáš Kubiš. The best TUS rider was Mihajlo Stolić, who finished in 10th place.
János Pelikán after his attack:
“It was incredibly hot all day. The plan was to go for the breakaway with Luca (Cătălin-Luca Câmpean) because he could have collected points for the best Romanian classification, but after all I was there. Because I was at the front, I tried to go after the point classification, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, I didn’t manage to collect enough points. Then there were only mountain sprints left, there was no point to stay at the breakaway and I slid back to the peloton.”
A top 10 once again from Mihajlo:
“Today was extremely exhausting, with over five hours of racing in scorching temperatures reaching 37 to 40°C. Staying properly hydrated and maintaining electrolyte balance was absolutely crucial, although it’s always a challenge to replenish enough electrolytes in such heat.
The decisive point of the race was the final corner at 500 meters to go. I managed to position myself well and avoid the crash that happened right there, it was key.
It wasn’t a traditional sprint finish, as the stretch from 500m to around 150m before the finish, which had a significant impact. Unfortunately, I didn’t come into the sprint as fresh as I would’ve liked. I started feeling cramps in my right leg on the last climb, about 15 km to go, which definitely took a toll.
Still, I’m satisfied to come away with another top 10 on such a tough day. Of course, it could have been even better, but sprint finishes, especially ones like this, are always a bit unpredictable.”
📷Photo: hila.ro