Luka Mezgec takes second victory in Tour de Pologne, Pascal Ackermann retains Yellow
Aug 08 2019 04:57 am CET
Photo of Mitchelton-Scott jersey (c) Jonathan Roorda / CyclingPub.com
Mitchelton-Scott's Luka Mezgec has taken the victory of the fifth stage at the Tour de Pologne.
The peloton returned to racing after the neutralised fourth stage in honour of Bjorg Lambrecht, including his Lotto-Soudal teammates, who chose to remain competing in the race. The course was once more full of messages and homages for the rider of Lotto-Soudal.
The stage was 154 kilometres long and the breakaway was created early by Charles Planet, Kamil Gradek, Szymon Rekita and Jelle Wallays.
The trio was reeled back in at the beginning of the last lap but the finish was not suitable for the pure climbers as it was uphill. Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) was the fastest rider to the finish line, ahead of Eduard Prades (Movistar) and Ben Swift (Team Ineos).
"During the stage, the pace was really slow, so I started chatting with Sam Bewley about what if we put two guys on front to go full on the last climb to try and get rid of some sprinters or tire their legs," said Mezgec. "So, we put two climbers on the front and a few guys got dropped. In the meeting before the stage, I said 'watch for attacks on the finishing laps' because we know it's hard and uphill a bit. And that's what happened, but we had Tsgabu there and it was perfect, it took a lot of pressure off us and for me, I wasn't thinking about the gap, I was just thinking if we catch them I will sprint, if not we have Tsgabu there."
"I positioned myself along with Sam Bewley in the perfect position behind Ben Swift because I saw the whole Ineos team were on the front. I was really going deep, it's been a while since I went so deep, I didn't know how I was feeling but I got a lot of benefit from altitude training and I've lost two-kilos, so that helped a lot on a finish like today. I'm really happy because I was working hard for this, I was really motivated and to get these results straight away it's a big relief and a sign that the training has been working."
Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) managed to retain the leader's jersey and has a lead of four seconds over Mezgec and 16 over Swift.
Luka Mezgec takes second victory in Tour de Pologne, Pascal Ackermann retains Yellow https://t.co/ec79AyLRDS |@MitcheltonSCOTT @lukamezgec #TDP2019
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