Kusztor steadily climbs the general classification on third stage in Slovakia

Race: Okolo Slovenska 

Start/Finish: Banska Bystrica – Ziar nadHronom

Distance: 181.3km

Peter Kusztor 

“I was trying to go from the beginning, but it was a very fast start and Brian Kamstra was our guy who made it first but Sunweb pulled hard and that move came back on the first climb, so I saw my chance and me and three other guys managed to get away.”

“We had a plan to try and take some seconds and that’s what we were able to do. It was another really unified performance from the whole team and moving up to 15th is really satisfying.

“Once it came back together, we went all in for Charles Planet who did another good sprint to and came close to breaking into the top ten again. We will do our best to hold on to our position tomorrow and try to move up a couple of places if we get the chance.”

Massimo Podenzana

“Today was a good day, the guys did a great job and we came close to achieving the result we were looking for. Brian was attentive in the early kilometers an got into the first breakaway and when that came back, we managed to get Peter up the road as part of a quartet.”

“Peter’s group collaborated really well, and they were only caught in the last 20kilometers by the work of Deceuninck-QuickStep on the front of the peloton – work that totally split the bunch in two. I’m happy because Peter rode intelligently, he made sure to take some points and that’s why he moved up on the GC.

“At the finish we expected a fast sprint and that’s what we got. Slight downhill into the final turn and then pan flat to the line. Charles is producing good numbers at the moment and he was right in the thick of it again to take 12th.”

Next Up:

Tomorrow’s fourth and final stage is the shortest of the race and covers 171.1 kilometers from Topolcianky to Skalica.