Huising from Netherlands won the queen stage

Olbernhau - Dutch national team member Menno Huising wone "Queen" stage of the ZMJ. He brought a four-member escaped group to Olbernhau, which also included the German rider Emil Herzog. Thanks to that, he took the yellow jersey of the race leader. "I fell yesterday and lost contact with the front of the race. I told myself that nothing really could go wrong anymore, and today I wanted to improve my mood, despite my sore knee. ZMJ is a very beautiful race. It rained terribly here last year. Even though it was hard today, I really enjoyed it," said Menno Huising, the winner of the 3rd stage, with satisfaction.

The penultimate race day of the 50th ZMJ served to the peloton the longest and most demanding stage from Teplice to Olbernhau, Saxony, over one hundred and twenty kilometers long. Cyclists had to fight with a heavy profile and three GPMs in Cínovec, Mníšek and Seiffen. And it was on the first climb where the whole field began to split. Shortly afterwards, the Dutch rider Huising separated from the main field with the Portuguese Morgada. Later, Norwegian Nordhagen and German Herzog joined them. This quartet came to the finish line together. The sprint was won by the Dutch racer ahead of the second German Emil Herzog and the third Portuguese Antonio Morgada. The unhappy fourth spot were left to Norwegian Jorgen Nordhagen. The main field, including the leader Mathieu Kockelmann from Luxembourg reached the finish line almost two minutes later. Kockelmann thus lost his leading position and dropped to the fourth place. Emil Herzog, after claiming another second place finally had reason to celevrate - he took the yellow jersey of the leader.

"Today's stage hurt. It was very hard. At first I looked at the others and waited for a while. Then came the time when I attacked. I wanted to win the stage, but it didn´t work out, but in the end of the day its a yellow jersey, so a much more valuable trophy, which I will want to keep, " said Emil Herzog, a new leader in the overall classification. Most of the Czech representatives were also in the main group together with the leader. The thirteenth Martin Bárta was the most successful in today´s stage. Coach Konečný´s riders were very active all the time, but they were missing in the escape and there was a certain disappointment in the Czech team. "We wanted much more. The overall strength of that team is excellent. The boys are doing great and give a great performance, which for some was beyond their possibilities. But of course we wanted to attack. When Herzog escaped, it was a situation where we were supposed to be there, but it didnt work out. We let go four people, which was bad for Pavel Novák. Two people jumped him, on the other hand he jumped Pajur, who failed today, so overall its not bad and the teams performance is excellent. I have to praise the boys for that, but we expected that Pavel will attack the podium, all the prerequisites were there, but unfortunately the four were better today. At the same time, there was very little missing" the Czech national team coach Tomáš Konečný has mixed feelings. Ahead of the competitors is only the final 4th stage with a traditional start and finish in Terezín. There are difficult hundred kilometers with four of GPM bonuses in Pohořany waiting for the young riders. The leading German Herzog has a half-minute lead over the second Portuguese Morgada. The sixth Pavel Novák is less than two and a half minutes behind.

Results - 3rd stage (Teplice-Olbernhau, 121.7 km):
1. Menno Huising (NED) 3:05:19
2. Emil Herzog (GER)
3. Antonio Morgado (POR)
4. Jorgen Nordhagen (NOR) - all the same time
5. Thibaud Gruel (FRA) +1: 54
13. Martin Bárta (CZE) 1:57

Overall:
1. Emil Herzog (GER) 7:10:20
2. Antonio Morgado (POR) +0: 29
3. Jorgen Nordhagen (NOR) +0: 35
4. Mathieu Kockelmann (LUX) +1: 49
5. Kristian Egholm (DEN) +2: 23
6. Pavel Novak (CZE) +2: 25