CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Matevz Govekar narrowly missed out on a podium yesterday in the fourth and penultimate stage of the 20th Renewi Tour in Belgium.
Govekar finished fifth at the end of the 198.5-kilometre leg as part of a large group of competitors that made a sprint to the finish. Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick-Step took the victory in four hours 19 minutes 28 seconds, with Govekar not far behind.
Bahrain Victorious teammate Fred Wright was 33rd in the stage while Robert Stannard came 40th and Matej Mohoric 42nd. Fran Miholjevic was 60th and completing the team’s roster in the stage rankings were Kamil Gradek in 118th and Daniel Skerl in 120th.
Heading into today’s final day, Wright remained Bahrain Victorious’ best-placed rider on the general classification (GC) in sixth after dropping one position. He is 50 seconds from first place, occupied by Arnaud de Lie of Lotto.
The kingdom’s squad were fifth in the teams’ standings, more than a minute behind leaders Alpecin-Deceuninck.
In another race yesterday in Europe, Bahrain Victorious’ Edoardo Zambanini claimed a top-10 finish in the third and penultimate stage of the 40th Lidl Deutschland Tour in Germany.
Zambanini finished eighth after 175.7km of racing, in which Soren Waerenskjold of Uno-X Mobility took the win in 3:53:10.
Amongst the team’s other riders yesterday, Vlad van Mechelen came 58th, Nikias Arndt was 64th, Phil Bauhaus finished right behind in 65th, Alberto Bruttomesso was 83rd, and Zak Erzen finished in 101st.
Zambanini climbed eight places on the race’s GC to go to 14th as Bahrain Victorious’ top man in the GC. He also climbed four spots to eighth on the best young rider rankings, where he is 37s behind Waerenskjold, who is the leader.
Both elite men’s road races are scheduled to conclude today, with a 184.7km concluding stage in Belgium and a 163.7km finale in Germany.
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