Israel – Premier Tech’s Omer Goldstein reached out for the win on stage 4 of Tour of the Alps today. Unfortunately, he had to see his courageous effort come to an end on the final climb of the day.
After three good stages for the team, always being in the mix, the morale of the IPT riders was high ahead of Thursday’s undulating stage. Everybody was eager to work for a big result and after a fast start with countless attacks, Goldstein managed to join a strong breakaway of 15 riders.
“I hadn’t really shown myself in the race so far and since today, probably, was my last chance to try something, I was super motivated to be in the break”, Goldstein said after the stage. “We missed the first big break, but my teammates really helped me a lot and we brought it back together again. Even though my legs were really hurting at that point, I knew I had to do something and I put in a big effort to make the next big group that went away.”
The front group worked well together and on the steep slopes at the bottom of the final climb, Goldstein upped to pace at the front. Just a few riders were able to follow the former Israeli champion and ultimately, only Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was left with Goldstein in the lead of the race.
“On the hard part of the last climb, I went full out. I managed to get a gap but then Pinot came back to me. I stayed with him for a while but with 500 meters to the top, I had to let go and he continued alone. It was a shame, because if I had just been able to stay with him for a little longer, I think the outcome could have been different today. However, I’m still satisfied with how I raced today. I definitely gave it my all.”
At the end, Goldstein crossed the line in 35th place, while Carl Fredrik Hagen is the best-placed IPT rider in the general classification. Tomorrow, Tour of the Alps finishes with another difficult stage with several hard climbs to overcome.
“The atmosphere on the team is really good. We said we would be racing aggressively and I think we have shown that every day in this race so far. Tomorrow is the last day and for sure, we will try our best once again.”
