Impressive rides by Brajkovic, Cink

Manama : Three of Bahrain’s Merida Pro Cycling Team riders enjoyed impressive results yesterday after completing the fifth stage of the 104th Tour de France over 160.5km on the tough mountain course from the French mineral water town of Vittel and concluding below the summit of La Planche Des Belles Filles in the Vosges mountains of North Eastern France.

Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia finished the uphill stage 30th overall in three hours 46 minutes and was a minute and 54 seconds behind the stage winner Aru Fabio (3:44:06) from Italy of the Astana Pro Team out of the 193 riders still in the race.

Second best rider for Bahrain Merida was 33rd placed overall Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic, +1:59) and the third was 56th placed Javier Moreno (Spain, +4:40). Bahrain’s ninth team member Spaniard Ion Izaguirre retired during the opening stage.

Today the sixth stage takes the remaining (193) riders from Vesoul to the city of Troyes over a flat course of 216.5km.