Tour de Romandie: Astana’s Hirt finishes seventh in Queen Stage

10:53, 5 May 2019

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - Yesterday's Queen Stage of the Tour de Romandie was shortened due to extreme weather conditions but was still an intense race until the finish line. Jan Hirt took another top 10 this week, finishing seventh behind winner and GC leader Primoz Roglic. Until the final climb to the mountaintop finish in Torgon, young talent Jonas Gregaard was part of the eight-man breakaway that took off at the start of the stage, Astana Pro Team's press office informs.

"I hoped for a better result today, to be honest. I was expecting the final climb to be harder, so there would be a smaller group sprinting for the finish. Now I tried it with an attack in the final kilometers, but it was not easy to go clear because the stage was not so long, and everyone had energy left to follow me. But in the end, I think my shape is good and I'm ready for the start of the Giro d'Italia. Now it's all about recovering from this race to be in a perfect condition to support Miguel Angel Lopez in his goal to win this Grand Tour," said Jan Hirt.

"It was a hard but nice day for me, as I was able to make it into the breakaway. It was a hard fight to go clear with the group, as Martinez was still someone who could threaten the overall classification. But we managed to stay in the front all the way until the final climb and this climb I just rode as fast as I could, I went all out. It was a nice experience for me, as I tried to make it in the break several times before, but this time I succeed. So I have a good feeling about today, I'm happy with my performance," said Jonas Gregaard.

Stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie would be 176 kilometers long, starting from Lucens to finish atop a 1st category climb in Torgon, but because of the weather conditions, the race was shortened to 107,6 kilometers. Jonas Gregaard took off with seven other riders for the early breakaway. The young rider of Astana Pro Team gained an advantage of 2 minutes together with the other escapees, before getting caught halfway the final climb of the day. The decisive mountain top finish in Torgon was won by Primoz Roglic, outsprinting a small group including Jan Hirt, who finished seventh. Roglic remains the overall leader with only one ITT to go.

Tomorrow's ITT with start and finish in Geneva will be 16,85 kilometers long and will decide who wins the 2019 Tour de Romandie.

Cycling XDS Astana Team Sport