Oliver Zaugg and Thomas Rohregger (Leopard-Trek) animated yesterday’s stage six in the Tour of Poland, and though they could not make an attack that stuck, they were happy when the stage was complete.
The Austrian Rohregger began the day in the breakaway, which built a maximum lead of over five minutes. Team Astana did the lion’s share of the work to bring them back, but Rohregger accelerated again, and it looked for a while as if he might stay away. But he too eventually ran out of steam, and was the last man caught from the original break, with less than 10 kilometers remaining.
“I spent nearly the entire stage in the break with 10 other guys,” the exhausted Rohregger said after the stage. “Fifteen kilometers from the finish, the field pulled us back. I attacked before the catch in an attempt to go alone. They overtook me maybe 10 kilometers before the finish.”
The 28-year-old Austrian, who came to Leopard-Trek after his former squad, Team Milram, folded last year, then tried to help set up Zaugg. The Swiss veteran is the protected man on Leopard-Trek in Poland.
“I had pretty good feelings today, so I tried twice to attack,” Zaugg explained after the stage. He first closed down a move that was made by Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polstat Polkowice) with three kilometers to the finish. When the group of favorites closed down the duo, Zaugg went again.
“The first time, I made my move three kilometers before the finish. And then I went again two kilometers from the finish. It was not possible to get away alone.”
With precious bonus seconds available at the finish line in the hotly contested general classification, it became the theme in the closing kilometers. Rohregger attacked unsuccessfully, before a serious move by eventual stage winner Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) proved fruitless as well.
In the undulating final kilometers, Rutkiewicz put in his attack before Zaugg tried his luck. The Swiss rider briefly found some daylight before Martin stamped on the accelerator again, easily closing the gap. When Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) got away in sight of the finish line, the determined Martin again shut him out, coming around to take the win.
“It was a hard day, and after those two attacks, I was tired,” Zaugg admitted. “I hung on for what I could in the last kilometer.”
Zaugg finished 17th on the stage, 13 seconds behind Martin. He’s now in 15th place overall heading into today’s final stage, 36 seconds behind the Irishman. “Even though it didn’t work, I’m happy enough,” he concluded. “It’s important to try because at the end of the day, it’s the best thing to say that I went for it.”
Zaugg was among a stable of Leopard-Trek riders making their presence felt this week. Rohregger and Fabian Wegmann have also shown good form in Poland. Wegmann, fifth on stage 4, is satisfied with his results after an extended break to support his wife in the birth of the couple’s first child.