Jan Barta of BORA – ARGON 18 finished the Czech Cycling Tour in second place overall, narrowly beaten by Petr Vakoc (Etixx-QuickStep). After his third place at the Tour of Bavaria, this result is the best stage race result of the current season so far for Barta. The 30-year-old Czech time trial champion laid the foundation for his success in the queen stage yesterday, which he finished as third. Today’s final stage over 145 km was won by Zdynek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) ahead of BORA – ARGON 18 stagiaire Gregor Mühlberger. With his podium result Mühlberger makes it a perfect score for his team, which stood on the podium after all four stages. Besides Barta and Mühlberger, the team scored the second place in the team time trial at the opening. Daniel Schorn sprinted to third place on Friday.
“We faced a dangerous situation shortly before the end of the stage. Jan punctured with seven kilometers to go and the tire slowly lost pressure – at the exact moment when Stybar set the deciding attack. So he couldn’t follow and because of the race situation, Jan chose not to change the wheel. Gregor responded great and followed the attack. He then rode cleverly in the lead group and sprinted to a very good second place”, Sport Director Enrico Poitschke comments the final stage.”
“We risked everything for the GC. Jan gained already one second bonus and was just five seconds behind the leader when the mechanical occurred. On the one hand this has taken us a chance to ride for the tour victory – on the other hand we can be glad that the air went out slowly, because otherwise even his second place would have been in danger”, Poitschke continues.
“Overall, the team rode a strong tour. Every day we were on the podium and we finished second overall. Certainly, this gives the guys motivation for the coming races”, Poitschke concludes.
