Team Visma | Lease a Bike not in the mix for the win in final stage Czech Tour
In the final stage of the four-day Czech Tour, Matthew Brennan, Dario Belletta and Milan Vader were part of the reduced peloton. In the tricky finale, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike trio had no answer to the acceleration of eventual stage winner Julian Alaphilippe. The yellow-and-black formation concludes the Czech Tour with a stage win and as winner of the team classification.
The final stage of the Czech Tour took the peloton from Sumperk to Sternberk. The strong wind made the race hard right from the start. After the start signal, six riders formed the breakaway. During the local laps in Sumperk, the last remaining escapees were caught by the meanwhile depleted peloton. That peloton included Brennan, Belletta and Vader.
The tricky cobbled hill just before the finish line was interesting for the favourites to accelerate. In the final lap, Alaphilippe placed his attack there, after which the Frenchman took the stage win in a sprint with GC leader Marc Hirschi. Brennan, Belletta and Vader finished in the top 20 of the day's result. Team Visma | Lease a Bike, which counted on a mix of experience and young talent, won the team classification.
"This was the best possible result today"
Sports director Robert Wagner looks back. “It was a short but tough stage. The wind played a big role today. About 40 kilometres from the finish, Soudal Quick-Step upped the pace. Matthew, Dario and Milan were able to follow. They rode a fine race, but unfortunately this was the best possible result today.”
“We can look back on a good race”, Wagner continued. “Of the four stages, we managed to win one with Thomas Gloag. In addition, we managed to win the team classification. That shows we had a nice collective performance. I hope this Czech Tour was a good preparation for the races to follow in the coming period. We are looking forward to that.”