Márton Dina fights in the ‘break’, the team shows its confidence
44th Tour of the Alps
Stage 1: Brixen / Bressanone – Innsbruck (140.6 km)
Hungarian Márton Dina was one of the main protagonists of the opening stage of the demanding Tour of the Alps. An opening stage from Italian soil to Austrian territory in which snow appeared during the passage through the Passo del Brennero and after which the Italian Gianni Moscon, winner in Innsbruck, is the first leader of the race. Dina managed to join a breakaway with Italian Alessandro de Marchi and German Felix Engelhardt. The three rode until the first climb to Axams, where De Marchi went solo.
Dina’s performance was the tip of the iceberg of a great group performance by EOLO-KOMETA. The team was active from the first kilometres to fight for the breakaway, with Alejandro Ropero as the first man to unleash the hostilities. And it was also active in the final part of the race trying to break the group, again with Ropero as the protagonist and also with Erik Fetter trying to relaunch the group when, in the last ten kilometres, there was a slightly leading quartet in the lead.
In the end it was Moscon who made good on an attack, but Norwegian Idar Anderse was caught. The peloton arrived immediately afterwards and Davide Bais, 17th, was the first EOLO-KOMETA rider to cross the finish line in Innsbruck in a group that also included Edward Ravasi, Erik Fetter, Mark Christian and Alejandro Ropero.
Marton Dina: “Really, our goal was to get into a breakaway and I did everything I could to do it: it wasn’t easy and I thought it would be easier because usually in the early stages the breakaways start more easily. I saw De Marchi sprinting, the group didn’t move and so I went too and it wasn’t easy to catch him. Then we had a headwind all day so we knew it wasn’t the best day for a breakaway. Then there was snow on the Brenner Pass: luckily I realised in time that it was going to be very cold so before the climb I went to the car and covered up well and that helped a lot on the descent. I missed the sprints for the KOM, I know that De Marchi is faster than me but I still tried and I’m convinced that I could have won the first KOM and instead I made a mistake. I’m quite happy, but the Tour of the Alps is not over yet…”.
On Tuesday, more mountains. It will be a stage of just 121 kilometres, but all the hardness is concentrated in its second part with two passes over the Kaunergrat, which is faced by two different slopes, before an uphill finish in Feichten im Kaunertal.
[ PhotoGomezSport]
