Czech Tour opens with fast sprint and Ridolfo 15th

Team Novo Nordisk began the 18th edition of the Czech Tour with intent, with 24-year-old Filippo Ridolfo in the mix on stage one — finishing 15th in the bunch sprint in the historic spa town of Karlovy Vary.

The opening stage is the sole day of the four that does not finish atop a summit, making it the sprinters’ best opportunity of the race  — and the peloton knew it from the gun. The 163.2km stage departed Prague under brilliant sunshine,  with the Czech capital providing a spectacular backdrop for the race’s start before the peloton headed west through Bohemia towards Karlovy Vary and its famous colonnaded streets.

Despite plenty of early attacks, it took time for the breakaway to solidify, with a quartet eventually gaining a couple of minutes on the bunch. With a sprint finale all but guaranteed, the escapees were kept on a tight leash throughout and were never given the freedom to build a race-winning advantage.

“I can’t seem to break clear of the top 15 this year,” said Ridolfo with characteristic honesty. “It was a really straightforward stage — not too stressful, and only really the final third where the pace intensified, so I felt comfortable and confident going into the closing kilometres.”

The Italian was well placed heading into the finale, but a moment’s misjudgement in the technical closing kilometres proved costly. “The final came after a fairly technical descent and we knew that to be in with a chance we had to be at the front. Everything was going to plan until the last kilometre — I took one corner at 300 metres to go in the wrong position and that was it. Out of position and out of the top ten.”

With three consecutive mountain stages now to follow — all finishing atop summit finishes  — the race is set to take on a very different character from tomorrow, and the team will look to the experienced legs of David Lozano to come to the fore.