Riccardo Zoidl completed the final stage at the Tour of Poland, a 25-kilomter time trial, with a 9th place, stopping the clock at 30 minutes and 11 seconds (+1’26”) to claim 14th in the overall classification.

He admitted afterward that he was not at his best in the flat, windy out and back course, but despite a less than stellar feeling he was happy with his time, which was only three seconds shy of sixth place.

“I am surprised to finish 9th because I really did not feel good today, not in the warm-up or in the race, so it was not my best. But I think it was a hard week for everyone so I think everybody was pretty tired. I am very happy with the 9th place, and it was also close to 6th and 7th," he saidl

“The TT was basically one direction then a U-turn, and it was very, very hot. For the head, it was a difficult time trial because of the long straights and you could see the road’s up and downs – it was not completely flat. It was actually quite a hard parcours with the wind and heat.”

The 25-kilometer time trial in the streets of Krakow was identical to last year and once again determined the overall winner at the Tour of Poland with the top of GC separated by seconds.

Marcin Bialoblocki (Poland National), the 12th rider to start, set an early blistering time and held on to win the race against the clock in 28:45.

In the GC battle, Ion Izagirre (Movistar) came out on top, edging out Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Soudal) by two seconds and Ben Hermans (BMC) by three seconds to take the victory.

Jesse Sergent and Marco Coledan also put in notable rides with Sergent finishing in 14th (+1’32”) and Coledan in 16th (+1’36”), showcasing three pinstripes in the top 20.

“Normally we would expect more from Jesse, but he’s coming back from injury,” said director Adriano Baffi about a discipline that Sergent always excels in. “Riccardo made a very good TT, he was right in the mix with the GC guys [From the top 10 in GC only Izagirre and Ilnur Zacharin finished higher than Zoidl in the time trial, by two and one seconds respectively – ed] and it’s a pity he was not with leaders and lost the time in stage 5 or we would be talking about him finishing in the top 5 right now.

“Overall we did not reach our goals, we were close with a 2nd and 3rd with Giacomo [Nizzolo] and close in attaining a higher GC. So I cannot say I am happy, but Giacomo confirmed his potential, and for most of the team it was the first race back after a break period - we were still very present in the races.”