Czech champion surges to the win ahead of breakaway companions to claim stage 4
Despite looking strong in the first three stages of the race, it took until the fourth stage for Lidl-Trek and Mathias Vacek to hit the bullseye. After three fairly flat days, today’s course looked more fitting for strong man Vacek, who relishes a tough day in the saddle. Racing on a ‘mini-Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the Ardennes, Vacek attacked on the final climb of the day, gaining a gap with three accomplices — Tesfatsion and Canal (MOV) and Strong (IPT) — who managed to hold their lead to the finish ahead of the reduced peloton. Positioned well on the wheel of Strong, the fastest rival on paper, Vacek launched his sprint and comfortably passed the line ahead of the trio. The peloton came in close behind, seven seconds short of the leaders. Heading into the final stage tomorrow, Vacek sits second overall, just one second behind GC leader Strong.
“It was a hard day today but I knew it was a good stage for me so we went all in. With the rain and everything it was really hard and everybody was on the limit. I was feeling good so we took over the race after the first half and followed the moves to keep it under control. In the end I attacked on the last lap and we were four guys in the front. I felt confident in the sprint because all the guys had a lot of fatigue in the legs, which suited me and I could win the sprint. It’s really special, it’s the first road win with the team and it means a lot to me. I hope tomorrow will also be a good day, we keep the focus and for sure we try our best again. For now, I enjoy the victory and tomorrow we go again!”