Tour of the Future 2021
3. stage: Château-Thierry – Donnemarie-Dontilly (153,4 km):
–
BRATISLAVA. Slovak cyclist Lukáš Kubiš reached an excellent result on the small Tour de France. In the third stage, he stayed among the best for a long time, but in the end he was eliminated from the game of victory by technical problems.
“I don’t know what to say. After today’s stage, I only have eyes to cry,” said a native of Zvolen in a statement for Sportnet.
The hope vanished 20 km before the finish
The stage, which was 153 kilometers long and culminated in the village of Donnemarie-Dontilly after three and a half hours, was disrupted by adverse weather.
–
The rain made the peloton nervous, which was reflected in several falls. “It was really crazy. Fortunately, I avoided all falls,” Kubis said.
The leader of the Slovak national team also managed the sections on the terrain and kept in the main group without any problems. It was constantly divided, in the end there remained about twenty competitors, including Kubiš.
–
In the end, however, he could not fight for one of his life results.
“About twenty kilometers before the finish I got a slow defect on the front wheel. I tried to go on it for as long as possible, because there were only three bikes behind our group and no neutral support. Subsequently, when I was already walking on the rim, I fell into the second a group that was about three-quarters of a minute behind us.
–
There was a referee and a shimano car. They changed my wheel. By the way, they set it up for me in the opposite way and they didn’t even help me get into the other group. Subsequently, I fell into the third group, where I no longer wanted to fight. It was nothing more, “Kubiš evaluated the course of the stage.
Dutch dominance
The Tour de l’Avenir is closely watched. Stage winners or the most prominent competitors in the overall standings usually win a place in the WorldTour team.
“The result was at hand. I am sad, disappointed and very frustrated,” added Kubiš, who works in the continental team of Dukla Banská Bystrica.
He finished in 107th place with a loss of more than five minutes. Matúš Štoček’s 75th place on Monday was the best Slovak result.
–
The Dutchman Marijn van den Berg enjoyed the stage victory, succeeding in the sprint of a small group. He is second overall, losing seven seconds to his compatriot and race leader Mick van Dijk.
The Dutch dominate the course of the race so far. In the overall standings, they hold the complete podium, with Casper van Uden third. The best-placed Slovak in the fight for the yellow jersey is Štoček with a shortage of five minutes.
–
