Israel Start-Up Nation’s Norman Vathra showed off the blue and white team colors in style, being part of the big breakaway on the longest stage of Tour de Pologne. Hugo Hofstetter sprinted to 7th place at the end.
Knowing that Wednesday’s stage might be a good one for a break to make it all the way, the ISN guys were eager to join the right group. Vathra managed to infiltrate an early move of 10 riders getting up the road, putting on another strong performance in the Polish WT race.
With 35 km left to go, the break still had over three minutes on the peloton but ultimately, the teams of the sprinters managed to bring it all back on the final kilometers.
At that point, ISN quickly shifted focus towards Hofstetter who had finished third in the opening stage. The team did well to put the fast Frenchman in a good position and he took seventh place on the line.
Jenthe Biermans is still the best-placed ISN rider in the general classification in 30th place, just 1:03 minutes down on the leading rider before tomorrow’s difficult uphill finish at the Bukovina Resort.
Sports director, Eric Van Lancker: “The plan this morning was to put somebody in the breakaway and hope that it would make it all the way. The group went away directly from the start and Norman [Vathra] was quick join the move. He was really really strong again today. At the end, they got caught on the last kilometers and then we focused on Hugo [Hofstetter] for the sprint. The team did a really good job to put Hugo in a good position and he took seventh place. Maybe this sprint was a little too fast for him but he did well. Overall, we are really happy with the performances by the guys today.”
