The last day of our race had a distinctively royal character. It was dominated by the Tatra terrain. Everything started in the heart of Liptov - in Liptovský Mikuláš, where local fans welcomed the competitors on Sunday morning. It was also Peter Sagan's dernier, which both Peter and his fans enjoyed.
The itinerary was short but challenging. The 142 kilometers awaiting the riders were mostly rolling through mountains. The race went from Liptovský Mikuláš to Poprad and then to the Tatra Mountains, where it climbed up to Štrbské Pleso three times in total.
Right from the start there were big battles in the peloton, because already at the sixth kilometre there was a speed premium in Liptovský Hrádek and Soudal - Quick-Step with Alaphilippe wanted to take it especially, since Alaphilippe was only two seconds behind the yellow jersey in the overall standings. In the end, they didn't succeed at all and instead, it was the leader Mauro Schmid of Jayco - AlUla who took the three bonus seconds.
After that, the situation calmed down and the breakaway was given room. After a number of attempts, the two riders at the front settled down. They were Erik Fetter from Polti - Kometa and Xabier Azparren from Q36.5. Despite the fact that there were only two of them, the favoured teams didn't give them much time room. They wanted to be in control.
As there were only two cyclists at the front, we were curious to see if Matúš Štoček would still be able to fight for the mountain points and thus the polka dot jersey. However, he didn't have enough strength and in Starý Smokovec, Ukraine's Kyrylo Tsarenko from Corratec secured his victory in this competition.
Just before the first summit at Štrbské Pleso, the breakaway got caught up and the peloton was divided into many groups. Riders kept dropping off the front and Soudal as well as Julian Alaphilippe himself were trying hard to figure something out, but Jayco was well in control and was able to nullify the Frenchman's attacks.
In the end, the Australian team took it all. 400 metres before the finish line Felix Engelhardt came on and a tired Alaphilippe was unable to respond. The young German climber claimed the third professional triumph of his career. Leader Soudal was by the tape when Mauro Schmid also jumped and confirmed his yellow jersey win. The Swiss champion has already won both the Coppi Bartali and the Tour of Belgium, so he already has two prestigious yellow jerseys at home. He took the third one from Slovakia and was very satisfied.
"It's a great feeling and it's also such a thank you to the team because we've been going great all week. Winning the yellow jersey was our main goal and I'm glad I did it. It was a beautiful race, especially here in the mountains. It's a nice place, good roads and I really enjoyed it today," said overall winner Schmid at the finish.
For Julian Alaphilippe, the second place in the overall standings and the green jersey for his great activity during the race remained. It may not have been what he had hoped for, but the thousands of fans enjoyed him at our race, he was on the podium every day and fought with all his might, but Jayco came into the race objectively stronger in the end.
Tsarenko from Corratec took the mountain jersey, but Matúš Štoček was at least declared the most combative rider of the whole race. The best of the Slovaks was Lukáš Kubiš, who fought in every stage and finished seventeenth overall. If it wasn't for the team time trial, he would have been close to the Top 10.
At the end, the fans said goodbye to the legendary Peter Sagan, who finally retired from road cycling at Štrbské Pleso. The 68th annual of the race was again a success, we saw top riders fighting for the highest positions in a high-quality and safe race and we represented our country to the world.
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