For the first time this year a breakaway was allowed to battle for the stage win. On the first climb of the day 14 riders including Patrick Konrad went clear from the bunch. Their gap increased to more than four minutes before on the final climb the fight for the stage win began. Patrick Konrad was not able to follow a trio at the front and had to settle for 4thplace after taking the sprint from the chasing group. G. Mühlberger took the stage while there have been no attacks in the bunch behind and the general classification remained unchanged before the final stage of the race tomorrow.
Results
01 G. Mühlberger 4:16:53
02 T. Traeen +0:00
03 G. Pellizzari +0:00
04 P. Konrad +0:40
24 A. Vlasov +3:22
28 L. Kämna +3:22
From the finish line
“I was already part of the first break of the day which was reeled back in. Then, the big breakaway was already gone when I closed 45 seconds on the last three kilometers of the first climb. So, I had to spend a lot of energy early, aside from the effort from yesterday, which I was missing on the last climb, I think. Also, I still miss some race rhythm. I can go a good pace but it’s hard to follow attacks. Basically, I just couldn’t follow in the beginning of the last climb and was then around 20 seconds behind until the top. Anyway, it was not a bad day for us and in general we can be happy with our performance.” – Patrick Konrad
“We knew that the stage today had the potential for another change in the GC and wanted to put some pressure on Ineos. In the beginning the race was quite hectic and Aleks was after an attack in a group of five riders. But Ineos closed the gap and when the big break went the race started to calm down. There have been no real attacks among the GC favorites in the end as Ineos was really strong today, still, we had Patrick Konrad in the break. Unfortunately, he could climb with first three guys, and we had to settle for 4th place. But it was again a strong ride from the boys and there will be another chance tomorrow, I am sure.” – Christian Pömer, Sports Director