The final day of the Sibiu Cycling Tour saw two stages. An ITT with a hard, steady uphill finish, and another sprint stage. The time trial was dominated by Gregor Mühlberger who topped the timetables from the beginning. Overall leader Patrick Konrad pushed hard to defend his yellow jersey, but Mühlberger was outstanding today. He finished the 12-kilometre-long race against the clock with a time of 26:11 over a minute ahead of M. Badilatti, while Patrick Konrad took third. With this impressive effort Gregor also took over the overall race lead from his teammate.
While the GC remained unchanged in the evening, it was still another battle for the stage win. On a slightly undulated parcours all came down to another bunch sprint on an cobbled uphill stretch in Sibiu. BORA – hansgrohe timed their lead out to perfection and Pascal Ackermann took a second stage win ahead of his teammate Michael Schwarzmann. This means the team from Raubling won four out of five stages in Romania this week and also took one and two in the final general classification.
Results
Stage 3A
01 G. Mühlberger 26:11
03 M. Badilatti +1:02
02 P. Konrad +1:04
Stage 3B
01 P. Ackermann 2:15:38
02 M. Schwarzmann +0:00
03 E. Grosu +0:00
General Classification
01 G. Mühlberger 11:36:44
02 P. Konrad +1:01
03 M. Badilatti +1:52
From the finish line
“Of course, I am super happy with this second win. Our lead-out worked really well today, therefore it wasn’t as hectic as usual. Schwarzi launched the sprint on the cobble section and I had a perfect line into the final corner. Basically, I just had to cross the finish, while Schwarzi was able to take second.” – Pascal Ackermann
“It was a nice week of racing with great success for us. I am really happy how my legs turned after that period without racing. Especially in the ITT I felt really good. I think we are well prepared for the upcoming weeks. We started quite early to train together at our camp in Ötztal in June and that might pay off now.” – Gregor Mühlberger
“In general, I am happy with my performance this week. It felt great to be back to racing again and I think the whole team showed that we did our homework the last weeks. In the TT today I didn’t feel as comfortable as on the mountain stage, but that’s ok, it is early days in our new season. Congratulations to Gregor, he was really impressive today. Now we can celebrate a lot of wins and jerseys.” – Patrick Konrad
“In the TT this morning Gregor and Patrick battled out the GC, with the better end for Gregor today. But both showed that they are already in good shape ahead of the first big races. We knew that the time limit won’t be easy and told our sprinter to push. Gregor was that fast that 18 riders missed the time cut. I think there is not a lot to add.” – Jens Zemke, Sport Director
“It was a brilliant last day for us here in Romania. In the afternoon the guys showed yet again great team spirit. Patrick worked a lot to control the break and also Gregor was pulling in our lead out in the end. Then Schilli and Rudi stretched out the bunch already before the last uphill meters where Michael Schwarzmann launched the sprint for Pascal, who again finished off the job in superior style. I really want to point out that this week everybody worked perfect, the sprinters helped the climbers and vice versa. But also congratulations to the organizer. All measures worked out well and we always felt safe. Like this, we will be able to enjoy lots of cycling during the next weeks.” – Christian Pömer, Sport Director
