Gloag (Visma | LaB) fairytale complete: Brit wins queen stage in Czech Republic after more like year of inactivity

Thomas Gloag (Visma | Lease a Bike) managed to win the queen stage of the Tour of the Czech Republic 2024 on Dlouhe Strane. He proved to have the strongest climber's legs on the 12-kilometer climb (6.7 percent average) at the end of a 134-kilometer stage. The Brit returned to the Czech Republic after a year of injury.

The first two stages of the Tour of the Czech Republic did not disappoint. Luke Lamperti recorded a win on behalf of Soudal Quick-Step on day one, before the peloton faced its first uphill finish in stage two. There it came down to a one-two punch for UAE-Team Emirates, with winner Marc Hirschi and Diego Ulissi. 

Thus, the Swiss rider was also allowed to start the third stage in the leader's jersey, which went from Moravska Trebove to Dlouhe Strane. Nicolo Parisini (Q36.5) did not start the stage, but even without him the riders continued in the opening phase of the stage;

We ended up with a leading group of no less than 15 riders, including some strong names. Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step), Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers), Yannis Voisard (Tudor), Anton Palzer (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Julius van den Berg (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Rui Oliveira (UAE-Team Emirates) added quite a few horsepower, while Tomas Kopecky (TDT-Unibet) and Belgians Floris Van Tricht (Israel-Premier Tech) and Hugo Wartz (Bingoal Wallonie Bruxelles) were also of note.

With Mats Wenzel (Lidl-Trek, 1.19 minute behind) and Alessandro Fancellu (Q36.5, 2.23 behind) as the best-placed riders, UAE-Team Emirates had to work hard. The Emirates formation received help from dsm-firmenich PostNL, which let Van den Berg drop back on the flat strips towards the final climb to do some more leading work.

These developments also made them a bit nervous at the front, which manifested itself in demarches back and forth and eventually the death sentence for the entire group. Even before the final climb they were out for the effort, after which it could all start again on the uphill meters. There it was Tom Gloag of Visma | Lease a Bike who gave it a try.

The Brit, making his comeback after a one-year absence, rode away about 20 seconds and maintained that lead going into the final three kilometers. That was the signal for the other big names to go in pursuit, including leader Hirschi. However, cooperation in that group was not optimal, forcing Hirschi to come out of the pipe himself.

In the closing kilometer, the Swiss put on his ultimate acceleration, but catching up with Gloag proved too much to ask. The Brit thus ended a period of one year of inactivity. 'I was driving home after training. Suddenly I was hit by a car and broke my kneecap. What I remember is looking at my left leg after the collision and seeing that my kneecap didn't look good,' he said of his crash, prior to the Tour of the Czech Republic.