Peter Sagan pleased domestic audiences: In the prologue Around Slovakia he won a jersey for the best Slovak – Športky.sk

KOŠICE – Australian cyclist Kaden Groves won the introductory prologue of the 65th year of the international race Around Slovakia and took the lead in the overall standings. Home favorite Peter Sagan from Bora-Hansgrohe took 10th place and won the jersey for the best Slovak.

The rider of the BikeExchange Groves stable managed a 1.6 km long time trial in the historical center of Košice in 1: 50.46 minutes. Last year’s overall winner Jannik Steimle from Germany (Deceuninck-QuickStep) finished second with a gap of 32 hundredths, the third was with a shortfall of 0.91 with Polish Marceli Boguslawski (Mazowsze Serce Poslki).

The largest cycling event in Slovakia started on Wednesday with a cultural program since noon. The presentation of the teams took place from 2 pm and was followed by an evening prologue in the vicinity of St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral. The Czech Karel Tyrpekl (Topforex-ATT Investments) was the first to start on the track, the first to start from the Slovaks was David Kašek in the national team jersey and the first representative of the World Tour teams was the Singaporean Choon Huat Gon (BikeExchange). For the first time in his career, three-time world champion Peter Sagan presented himself at the start of the domestic race, and the four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome also made his debut in Slovakia.

The order of the lead was constantly changing and there were only minimal or even second differences between the competitors. For a longer period of time, the Danish Frederik Rodenberg Madsen (Uno-X) took the first place with a time of 1:52:78 min. Only 75 hundredths behind him came Shane Archbold from New Zealand (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and after 70 competitors, the third was another Dan from Uno-X Julius Johansen. Madsena was overtaken by the Pole Maciej Bodnar from Bory, who had a 64-hour better time. However, his lead did not last long and was soon overtaken by compatriot Marceli Boguslawski (Mazowsze Serce Poslki) with a time of 1: 50.46 min. Of the Slovaks, Erik Baška (Bora) was continuously the best in 13th place with a deficit of 3.13 s per leader. Boguslawski overtook Groves with a time of 1: 50.46 min. P. Sagan set off on the track as the penultimate and took tenth place with a deficit of 2.64 s. Last year’s overall winner and the winner of the opening time trial, Steimle started last and attacked the leading position, but in the end he took second place with a loss of 32 hundredths to Groves.

On Thursday, the 2nd stage, 158.4 km long, follows, with a start and finish in Košice, which will offer three speed and four mountain premiums.

• The author: © List
• Source: TASR