Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The Synergy Baku Cycling Project celebrated a successful weekend, as Matej Mugerli stormed his way to the finish line and won the sprint of the final stage of the Istrian Spring Trophy. Matej Mugerli also moved up to third place in the final overall rankings.

There was more climbing on tap in the final stage which ran 146 km from Pazin to Umag. Mugerli had come into the stage in fourth overall, only two seconds out of third place.

Synergy Baku Cycling Project's team for Istrian Spring Trophy included Maksym Averin, Samir Jabrayilov, Matija Kvasina, Matej Mugerli, Kirill Pozdnyakov and Ioannis Tamouridis.

The team worked hard on a wind-swept day, making the race hard and keeping Mugerli in a good position. He rewarded their efforts by attacking on the final climb with 10 km to go, along with Oliver Pardini (Wallonie-Bruxelles), second overall. The two climbed to the top and Mugerli was able to outsprint Pardini with a large peloton right behind them.

“We were attacking the whole day and trying to make this hard race even harder. In the last lap I attacked on the final climb together with the rider who was second in GC. We pushed really hard up to the finish line, and I was able to outsprint him,” said Mugerli. “I am of course also very happy to have finished third on the final GC!”

“This was not an individual effort. Every one of my teammates contributed to this, and played an important role as did our DS Andrej Hauptman and the whole staff. I can’t thank them enough!”

Hauptman called it “a really classic finale with a lot of wind. Once again the team worked like a machine, and Matej did an amazing last 10 kilometers. I am proud of everyone on the team and proud to be a part of a great Synergy Baku team.”

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