Thibau extends his lead in the general classification to 14 seconds with one stage remaining
How it happened
The fourth stage of the Hungarian stage race reached its conclusion way ahead of schedule, thanks to a fierce pace all day long. The speed was so high that it took into the second half of the race for the breakaway to form, which was then caught with just over two kilometers remaining.
Having shared the workload with UAE Team Emirates to control the race all day, Lidl-Trek were keen to capitalize on their hard effort. Fabio Felline lead Mathias Vacek ahead of Nys through the final kilometers, before swinging off and leaving the final leadout to the Czech champion. Vacek upped the pace, bringing Nys to a perfect spot at the front as gaps began to appear in the peloton under the strain imposed by the Lidl-Trek rider. Nys launched his sprint 200 meters out from the finish, chased by Hirschi, and finished comfortably in the lead to extend his lead to 14 seconds in the general classification ahead of the final stage.
A word from Thibau
“I don’t know if I ever had this feeling in my legs before. I was dying completely in the last 150 meters. I looked back and saw Hirschi coming. I was a bit afraid he would was going to come over, but I think we felt the same, we kept the same pace. I can’t describe how much I want to thank my Team, they did everything so so good to put me in the right position. They also gave me this confidence. This teamwork, I can finish it off. I’m just a small part in this victory, it’s as much from the Team as it is from me.
“We went quite fast already in the beginning of the climb and I think it put everyone on the limit already. In a perfect scenario I wanted to have my sprint a bit more explosive, but the pace was so high that I could not really accelerate and it was a long way to the finish line. It was really hard, it was painful.”
