Mühlberger wins Sibiu Cycling Tour

Pascal Ackermann continued Bora-hansgrohe’s domination on the final day of the Sibiu Cycling Tour with his second win of the race. The German sprinter was once again in a league of his own on stage 3b finishing ahead of his teammate Michael Schwarzmann and Eduard-Michael Grosu (Nippo Delko One Provence).

"Of course, I am super happy with this second win," Ackermann said in a team press release. "Our lead-out worked really well today, therefore it wasn’t as hectic as usual. Schwarzi launched the sprint on the cobble section and I had a perfect line into the final corner. Basically, I just had to cross the finish, while Schwarzi was able to take second."

Ackermann’s teammate Gregor Mühlberger finished safely in the main field to seal the overall win for this team. The Austrian won the stage 3a time trial in convincing fashion earlier in the day after putting over a full minute into all his GC rivals. 

"It was a nice week of racing with great success for us," Mühlberger said. "I am really happy how my legs turned after that period without racing. Especially in the ITT I felt really good. I think we are well prepared for the upcoming weeks. We started quite early to train together at our camp in Ötztal in June and that might pay off now."

Mühlberger finished top of the GC standings with another Bora-hansgrohe rider, Patrick Konrad finishing second overall. Matteo Badilatti (Israel Start-Up Nation) completing the podium.

"In general, I am happy with my performance this week," Konrad said. "It felt great to be back to racing again and I think the whole team showed that we did our homework the last weeks. In the [stage 3a] TT today I didn’t feel as comfortable as on the mountain stage, but that’s ok, it is early days in our new season. Congratulations to Gregor, he was really impressive today. Now we can celebrate a lot of wins and jerseys." 

If Bora had it all their own way throughout most of the race little changed on the final stage. The German team controlled the peloton and then chased down the final break before setting up Ackermann in the finale. The fact that they still had a full quota of riders for the leadout only emphasized their total control. When they accelerated through the cobbled streets inside the final few hundred metres the race shattered, leaving Ackermann and Schwarzmann plenty of time to celebrate a worthy 1-2.

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