15.03.2014

Hočevar third on the last day of Istria tour

Hočevar third on the last day of Istria tour
Two weeks of racing in Istria in Croatia finished with the today’s last stage of Istrian Spring Trophy. German rider Stefan Schafer won the stage, Adria Mobil’s Aljaž Hočevar was third.

Last stage of the race was anything but “parade of champions”, a concept well known from the big stage events. Lots of teams were still very aggressive, since many wanted to improve on their results. Speed was high throughout the stage and attacks followed one by one. Most promising attack happened 65 kilometers till the finish line, when a group of six escaped. Klemen Štimulak (Adria Mobil) was among them. The group was unanimous, they were working together and created a lead of 2 minutes. However, they had one “beauty flaw”… Among them was Austrian Gregor Muhlberger, fifth overall with 44 seconds of gap behind the race leader. Danish team Cult Energy Vital Water and race leader Cort Nielsen didn’t want to play with fire, so they started “hunting”. Six riders were caught 15 kilometers till the end of the stage. Big group was sprinting for the final stage victory, among them also our Aljaž Hočevar, who finished in excellent third place. After the race he said: “The race was harder than expected. We were charging for the whole day, I was hardly keeping the pace. Matej Mugerli lead me till the last 200 meters. After that I just pedaled as hard as I could. I’m very happy to finish on the podium today”.

Matej Mugerli was eight overall. This is below Adria Mobil’s expectations, but team manager Boštjan Mervar was not disappointed: “We had a good race, without any mistakes. Riders followed my instructions, but the competition was very leveled and this time we didn’t finished as winners. Roglič’s injury and malfunction in one stage have a decisive role.”

Next big race for the team is “Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali”, that starts in ten days. This is first category race in Italy, one of the most important for the team. There they will have to face very strong competition, also teams like Lampre-Merida, Cannondale and Team Sky.

Srečko Glivar

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