Tour de Hongrie Queen Stage the decider ahead of Sunday’s finale in Budapest

Head sports director Massimo Podenzana

“Everyone was waiting for today to see the race explode for the GC battle on the climbs and it happened. After the early break was caught the main contenders started to move. We wanted to try and stay with the front group with David and Peter, but after Mehdi not starting due to a broken collarbone and Andrea feeling the effects of yesterday’s crash, it was difficult to give them full support.”

“Nevertheless, the guys gave it everything and it was only on the last climb that they lost contact with the leading group as the race split apart. Those moves by the overall contenders all but decided the GC and tomorrow’s short stage in Budapest will be a fast one, over pretty quickly and certainly end in a sprint.”

“It was hard for our guys today and Andrea went deep trying to help Peter on the last climb, so we will see if he can recover a little to try again tomorrow in the sprint.”

Peter Kusztor

“To be completely open and honest…I couldn’t go with the last attacks. It was super-fast and aggressive. We were there going into the last 10 kilometers, but as soon as the gradient stiffened and the accelerations got stronger, we fell back.”

“I have to thank the guys, because they worked for me today, especially Andrea as he was there with me right until the end and our teamwork was very good, but we couldn’t do more.”