Our American rider Conor Schunk spent the American day of independence in the breakaway during the Queen Stage of the Sibiu Tour finishing at Balea Lac atop of the Transfăgărășan climb.
Unfortunately Conor’s group were caught at the bottom of the climb by the peloton. Conor then sat up to save his legs for tomorrow’s two stages and finished with Kiaan Watts and Nico Sessler in the grupetto.
Up front, Dylan Sunderland put in a strong ride and managed to finish 39th on the stage moving him up to 37th in the general classification. Ukko Peltonen finished alongside fellow Fin, Antti-Jussi Juntenen (A Bloc). Antti-Jussi and Ukko are just 2 seconds apart in GC! Who will come out on top in the “Finnish Mafia”?
Conor Schunk – “It was really good to get out there today. I just followed a really good looking move when it was going fast, looked back and saw that I had some daylight so I put the power through the pedals and kept going. From there we all worked pretty well together. Started out with 7 guys, dropped down to 4 in the end. We got caught right at the base of the climb but I’m really happy to be out there in a big breakaway in a big race like the Sibiu Tour.”
Director Sportif, Florent Horeau – “It was another day in the breakaway for the team and Conor did a great job in the break and was one of the strongest riders. It was great experience for him to experience his first breakaway at this level in Europe and will help him going forward.
“Tomorrow is a big day with two stages, 1 being an uphill time trial and the other being a 99km stage into Sibiu to end the race.”