Right breakaway for Garosio: 4th in the penultimate stage and enters the Tour of Slovakia top-10

A highly undulating route with 7 King of the Mountains and a couple of steep climbs at the end was ideal for a winning breakaway, on the eve of tomorrow’s decisive uphill finish. The initiative promoted, among others, by Team Polti Kometa at the beginning of the penultimate stage of the Tour of Slovakia turned out to be the right one: Andrea Garosio was for almost 180 kilometers in the breakaway with three other riders, and together they managed the lead until Ružomberok. There, the 30-year-old Brescian finished 4th and climbed to 9th place in the GC thanks also to winning both intermediate sprints.

Confirming his good form despite yesterday’s crash, Paul Double finished in the top-20 alongside a great Alex Martín. On the other hand, speaking of crashes, Polti Kometa notes the withdrawal of Davide De Cassan who stumbled on a pothole in the bunch just after the first summit at km 15.

Garosio: “We broke away strongly after just ten kilometers as soon as the road started to climb. It was a hot and long day where it was crucial to proceed in mutual agreement. On the third-to-last KOM at -40 from the finish, seeing the minutes of advantage we still had and feeling good sensations I really started to believe in it. Unfortunately, cramps on the last wall prevented me from accelerating and then from playing for the victory. Nonetheless I’m happy with the performance and breaking into the race’s top-10.”

Sports Director Biagio Conte: “Once again we faced bad luck today, after crashing De Cassan’s hands were too scraped to hold the handlebars properly. Credit to him for his tenacity, as he gritted his teeth through several challenges before having to abandon. On the positive side, this morning we specifically asked Garo to get into the break and he executed perfectly, hitting a move that the peloton allowed space. In the end they made it with about twenty seconds over a trio of counterattackers and about fifty seconds over the main group where Double and Martín were, well assisted earlier by Restrepo, Fetter and Gomez.”