The 22-year-old Swiss made a jump of nine places in the standings on the back of a solid ITT.
Mauro Schmid carried the flag for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl in Saturday’s urban individual time trials held on the streets of Budapest. For 7.9 kilometers the roads were flat as a pancake, before tilting uphill for the final 1300 meters, but even before that stinging climb, there were plenty of hurdles for the riders to overcome, in the form of tricky, technical corners and a cobbled section on the run-in to the climb.
Despite not being a specialist of the discipline and having to head down the ramp long before the stage favourites, Mauro Schmid produced a strong and impressive ride, averaging close to 46km/h and stopping the clock in 12:08, just a couple of seconds behind winner Simon Yates (Bike-Exchange-Jayco). His effort was enough for ninth on the day, a result that moved him into tenth on the general classification after two of the three days the peloton will get to spend in Hungary before travelling to Italy.
“My experience in time trials isn’t that big, as I didn’t do many ITTs in my career. I learned quite a long from the Romandie prologue, where I did quite well. My plan for today was to split the race a bit and not go too hard on the first part and I think it worked, as I rode quite smoothly through the corners, without taking too many risks. This may have cost me a couple of seconds, but I don’t have any regrets, because the last thing you want is to crash at the beginning of a Grand Tour. Overall, I am happy with my ride”, said Mauro, who sits just five seconds from the top of the youth classification.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
