Czech Tour has a new team leader, Husky wears yellow

Friday’s 172.6km race dramatically reshuffled the order of the first day of the Grand Prix. After a day dominated by Quick-Step’s Luke Lamperti, a new leader emerged in the peloton, showing the kind of starting ability his stablemate Pogačar is famous for in the final kilometre.

The 25-year-old Swiss first overtook Kevin Vermaerke from DSM, who had broken away from the favourites in the last 3km of the final climb and was already thinking about first place, and immediately accelerated past the American so that he had no chance to hide in the leeward.

After a long sprint, Hirschi was eight seconds ahead of teammate Diego Ulissi, with Colombian driver Sergio Higuita, wearing the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe colors, a further seven seconds behind in third place.

“The strategy today was to chase me and Diego, but everyone was waiting on the hill,” said the Swiss winner of a stage in the 2020 Tour de France and now also the second stage of the Czech Tour. “But if you have the legs, and we do, I think it is so. It is difficult to climb a hill like this twice, but we have come out victorious and have the leader’s jersey.”

It was a day full of arrivals, departures and commutes. Maikel Zijlaard of Team Tudor showed the fastest pace in the sprint advanced stage and the field stretched out as the peloton reached the first uphill advanced stage at km 30. The biggest star of this year’s Czech Tour, two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe, went to Doubrava with six points and in two weeks he will be in Paris on the mission of a lifetime – to make a push for gold at his home Olympics.

Oil leak at 80 km

It was not until the 80th kilometer that the breakaway was born, with Canadian rider Pier-André Côté from Israel’s Premier Tech farm having a bit of luck and being 2 minutes ahead of the peloton. Michal Schuran (ATT) and Tomáš Kalojíros (Pierre Baguette) were in hot pursuit, but the owner of the polka dot jersey had broken away the day before and returned to the main field, while Schuran overtook the only Canadian to win the second mountain stage.

The duo was then joined by Spaniard Javier Serrano (Polti Kometa) and Englishman Charlie Page (TDT Unibet). The foursome gave Roznov pod Radhostem a three-minute advantage. However, the escape broke apart in the first Pustvny ride, leaving Shulan with only Serrano, and in the end the Czech rider won the most climbing points alone.

After descending from Pusteven, 22 km from the stage finish, the main stars of the field gathered and the race was restarted. The favorites took on the 9 km climb for the second time, aiming for an altitude of 1010 meters, with the most active team being the Tudor team with their Australian climber Michael Storer. But this goal was destroyed by the competitors from across the ocean, and it was not until the end that Hirschi spoke his mind.

The yellow third stage awaits him and he is thinking about how to maintain his lead in Stenberk, where the 16th Czech Tour ends on Sunday. “Tomorrow,” said the Swiss, “will be more difficult, especially the final. Today was definitely more suitable for me, so we will see what happens tomorrow.”

On Saturday, the peloton will set off from Moravska Trzebova, the hometown of race director Leopold Koenig, across the Jesenice Peaks to the pump station at Dluh Stranny, which is likely to be the toughest climb of the Czech Tour. Over the 134km course, the competitors will check off 2,400m of elevation gain.