A practically flat stage awaited the riders on day 4 of the Turul României. However, the weather made the stage significantly more difficult. Alongside the rainy conditions, strong crosswinds blew in the second half of the stage, which split the peloton into pieces.
Bálint Feldhoffer, who stood fourth in the general classification before the stage, unfortunately found himself on the wrong side of the split and eventually finished 4:32 behind the leaders. On the other hand, our Greek sprinter, Nikiforos Arvanitou, was in the front group and was able to contest the sprint for the win. Niki crossed the line in fifth place, but was later relegated to the last place of the group for an irregular sprint. Despite this, Arvanitou still moved up to ninth place in the GC.
Bálint after a disappointing day:
“There were strong tailwinds and crosswinds in the last 100 kilometers, and for a while I managed to hold the pace, but at one point the group split and I just couldn’t get back. Unfortunately, there wasn’t good cooperation in our chase group, and that’s why the gap became so big.”
Niki after his sprint (before knowing about the relegation):
“This was a stage where anything that could happen, did happen. We started the day with crosswinds, but when the breakaway finally went, things calmed down in the peloton. Then, 90 kilometers from the finish, Voster went full gas in the crosswinds, and the peloton split into pieces. Luckily, I was in the first group and stayed there until the finish. I launched my sprint too early, as Bahrain still had leadout men at that point, so the top three were stronger at the end than me.”
📷Photo: Tour of Romania, Traian Oinici
