The last mountain stage of the Tour is quite short in kilometers at only 142. Nevertheless, there are three difficult climbs, the Col de Mente, the Col de Bales and the double climb to Peyresourde and the ski resort of Peyragudes. This will be the last chance that the climbers have to displace Matthias Frank from the top of the GC and to gain time on Van Garderen and Mollema, who could well fight for the final win in the time trial of the last Saturday.
The break of the day had 7 riders, including Tiago Machado (Saxo - Tinkoff), Dries Devenyns (BMC), Jose Serpa (Katusha) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (Ag2r). They reached the top of the Col de Mente (114 kilometers to go) with 6 minutes on a bunch where once again Garmin had no intention on chasing. Machado was first in the KoM banner and moved to the provisional second place on the classification, only 2 points behind Nocentini.
A second break formed in the last kilometers of the ascent to the Col de Mente, it was formed by Emanuele Sells (Astana), Daniel Martin (Ag2r) and Diego Ulissi (Lampre). They reached the intermediate sprint in Izaourt with a deficit of 4 minutes on the leading group. The peloton was losing as much as 11 minutes at that point, with 60 kilometers to go it looks like they are giving away the stage win although Quickstep seems to be keen on working with Garmin to set the pace.
Tiago Machado was setting a high pace in the break during the first part of the Col de Bales. The Portuguese is making the group of 7 go in a perfect straight line with a couple of riders already suffering. However, he could be doing the job for Dries Devenyns to win the stage. The increased pace means that the second group of chasers has not been able to reduce the gap for a few kilometers and is still losing 3' 40''. In the peloton Quickstep only threatened to chase and left Garmin on their own again.
After a few disappointing mountain stages a far away attack happens today. Pierre Rolland makes his attack with 6 kilometers remaining to the top of the Port de Bales and quickly opens a 1 minute gap on the bunch before any team reacts. The pace setting is now done by Movistar, Euskaltel and Discovery, as the French is 12th in the GC. The Garmin helpers for Frank are also quickly losing positions in the bunch.
The break reaches the top of the Port de Bales (33 kilometers to go) and even though Machado does not fight for the KoM points it looks like he will have enough at the end of the day to take the dots jersey in the podium of Paris. This group has increased the gap on the second group to 4 minutes, while Pierre Rolland is 10' 30'' behind right now and the main bunch is losing 12' 20''.
The peloton reaches the top of Bales with some big names already working at the front, like Jelle Vanendert and Steven Kruijswijk. The high pace in these last kilometers of the climb has reduced the number of riders in the peloton to around 65. Pierre Rolland is increasingly dangerous in the GC, as he is 2' 30'' ahead in the stage and only 3' 36'' behind in the GC.
A few more dangerous attacks took place already in the slopes of the Peyresourde but Matthias Frank is holding on well. He even managed to survive when an attack by Mollema with 11 kilometers remaining left only 13 riders in the group. Robert Kiserlovski is the rider best placed among those who haven't made it into this group. The attacks among the favorites have also meant that the gap that Pierre Rolland enjoyed is down to 50 seconds. In the break an attack from Mauro Santambrogio was unsuccessful and the 7 of them are still together.
Jose Serpa and Mauro Santambrogio reach the top of the Peyresourde with a few seconds on the rest of the break. There are no KoM points here as it is considered to be the same climb as Peyragudes. In the main bunch Robert Gesink tried another attack but he was not successful. The group of the leader is about to catch Pierre Rolland. The French will not be able to gain time on the main favorites but his attack served to involve the favorites in the stage.
The short descent was a bit more chaotic than the climb to Peyragudes. Rob Ruijgh attacked right at the top of the climb and he got the group unguarded. The Dutch soon opened a small gap in the descent and the only reaction came from Tejay van Garderen. With 3 kilometers remaining, already climbing to Peyragudes, the break has 2' 15'' on Emanuele Sells; 2' 30'' on Rob Ruijgh; 2' 50'' on Tejay van Garderen and 3' 15'' on the group of the leader. Meanwhile, the group with Robert Kiserlovski is already losing 6' 50''.
David Lopez crashed with 2 kilometers remaining! The 4th in the general classification seems to have had an incident with a fan and is losing precious time that could take him out of the top positions of the GC. Meanwhile, Rob Ruijgh and Tejay van Garderen have joined with Emanuele Sella and have a bit more than 1 minute on the group of the leader. If they keep that gap Van Garderen will be the new leader of the Tour de France.
The chasing trio caught the break under the 1 kilometer banner but they were already launching the final sprint. Alexandre Vinokourov has the lead ahead of Miguel Angel Rubiano, Dries Devenyns and Tiago Machado. Matthias Frank is working hard at the back trying to cut the lead of his chasers in the GC but he does not seem able do it.
Dries Devenyns wins in Peyragudes! The Belgian was the best rider in the break and he clearly delivered in the final sprint showing that he was the rider with the most energy remaining. This is the 12th win for the American team this year, which is more than what they got last season. Miguel Angel Rubiano took the second place ahead of Alexandre Vinokourov, while a surprisingly Van Garderen climbed to the 4th place in the stage at that final kilometer.
The leader showed that he is not among the best by chance. He pulled like mad in the last couple of kilometers and broke the group of the favorites. Mollema, Gesink, Stetina and himself lost only 34 seconds at the finish line but it was sadly not enough to keep the yellow jersey, which goes to Van Garderen. The other riders in the favorite group lost 55 seconds, while David Lopez's crash cost him 2' 30'' and his place in the top 10 of the Tour.
The mountains are finished but there are 3 days remaining in the Tour de France 2014. Today the riders head north towards Paris, so that the transfer today will be shorter. The stage itself is fairly easy, although the difficult terrain and the accumulated fatigue means that the mass sprint is not guaranteed. There are no categorized climbs but some of them would have been in the first week.
The break of the days was early to take shape and the 6 riders that formed it reached the intermediate sprint in Lhospitalet (111 kilometers to go) with a big gap of 8 minutes. The break had some good names like Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto) and Sylvain Chavanel (Ag2r). In the sprint for the remaining points Andre Greipel was fastest ahead of Marcel Kittel and Sacha Modolo.
The main bunch has been a bit lazy today and with 20 kilometers remaining it looks unlikely that they catch the break as they are still losing 3' 45''. Joaquim Rodriguez and Philippe Gilbert have been setting the pace in the uphill section but it is clearly not enough. The BMC riders have been very keen on keeping Van Garderen ou of danger and, as can be seen in the picture, Ballan has been on his side during the whole stage. The World Champion and the leader of the Tour have been all day side by side. Meanwhile, the first attack happened in the break, Jan Barta dragged Sylvain Chavanel but they only have a small gap.
The first attack in the break was quickly reeled back in but Chavanel tried a second time and he casted more doubts among his break companions. The French entered the last 3 kilometers of the stage with a gap of 25 seconds on the chasers. All the terrain remaining is downhill, so the chances of Chavanel are big. The peloton gave up on the chase, although they are a bit closer now, 3 minutes behind.
Elia Viviani started the sprint in the chasing group from far away in a bid to try to catch Chavanel but it looks unlikely with one kilometer remaining. In fact, the Italian has been already overtaken by Luca Paolini and Jurgen Roelandts is progressing and threatening his position.
Sylvain Chavanel wins in Brive-la-Gaillarde! The first win of the season for Ag2r could not come in a better race than the Tour de France. When it looked like the French team would go away without any relevant result Chavanel rises from his poor late form to take a win that improves a lot their season so far. Having said that, it was not an easy win. Luca Paolini was so strong in the final sprint that he narrowly missed on the win and lost the stage by less than 1 wheel.
Jurgen Roelandts, Elia Viviani and Enrico Gasparotto completed the top 5 for the stage. Quite a few points were available for the sprinters in the main bunch and Jose Joaquin Rojas won the sprint ahead of Ben Swift and Andre Greipel. That leaves Swift much closer to the green jersey, as he has a gap of 31 points on Rojas, possibly too many to regain them in the Champs Elysees.
The Tour is about to finish but the penultimate stage is one of the most important in the race. It is the second flat time trial in the race and at 51 kilometers the differences among the riders should be quite big. The leader, Tejay van Garderen, is one of the main specialists in the discipline so it is widely expected that he will confirm his yellow jersey today. His biggest threat will probably be Bauke Mollema, but the Dutch will probably have enough with trying to steal the second place in the podium from Matthias Frank.
Marcel Kittel (Discovery) has been outstanding in the time trial of the Tour so far but maybe he starts too early today and does not have many good references. The German is again good today but not as much as in previous time trials, as he can only set the second provisional time 3 seconds behind Tyler Farrar when there are more than 130 riders still to arrive.
Levi Leipheimer (HTC) was next among the favorites for the stage win. The American has had a pretty bad season so far but today he did not disappoint and managed to beat the best time so far by 14 seconds. As Farrar still had the best time so far it was an American 1-2 at that point of the stage. It is a shame that we seldom see Leipheimer perform well as with his time trial abilities he could well be in the mix for some 1 week races.
The next favorite to start was Cameron Meyer (Quickstep). The Australian is the top time trialist and he has already won the two previous time trials in the Tour de France. Meyer was outstanding and put a whole 53 seconds between himself and Leipheimer. It will be very difficult to do better than that and only Van Garderen or Mollema seem capable of doing it.
Marco Pinotti (BMC) was next but he could not perform up to his capabilities after his work for the leader in the past three weeks and his presence in several breaks in the Pyrenees. The Italian only managed to record the 32nd provisional time, 2' 53'' behind Cameron Meyer even though he had been as high as 4th in the opening prologue.
Denis Menchov (Quickstep) was supposedly the leader of Quickstep for the Tour de France but it was soon clear that Pierre Rolland was way better in the French race than the Russian. His performance was again under the expectations as he managed to set the 11th provisional time 1' 49'' behind Cameron Meyer. Nevertheless, it served him to overtake Jurgen van den Broeck and Hubert Dupont in the GC and take the 16th place.
The fifth in the GC before today's time trial was Peter Stetina (BMC). The American has a great future but has been overshadowed again by his teammate Tejay van Garderen in a Grand Tour. His miseries in this Tour de France have come from the time trials and today he posted the 32nd provisional time at the finish line, 2' 38'' behind Cameron Meyer. That lost him the 5th place in the GC to Robert Gesink, who is provisionally 6th at the finish line at this point.
Rob Ruijgh (Belkin) was also a victim of his teammate Gesink, as the Dutch finished 44th losing 2' 49'' to Meyer. This means that Robert Gesink will most probably finish 4th tomorrow in the Champs Elysees. In principal the official version was that Dupont and Gesink were focusing in the Tour de France for Belkin, while Rob Ruijgh would be the man for the Vuelta a España, but Ruijgh surpassed the expectations to hold on to a top 10 in the Tour. He also improved on his 7th place in the Tour 2 years ago.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) started the day in the third place of the GC with the purpose of at least climbing to the second place of the podium ahead of Matthias Frank. The Dutch had a good time trial to post the 3rd provisional time in the finish line 1' 04'' behind. That is almost 30 seconds quicker than Robert Gesink, who was the best so far among the GC riders. Matthias Frank will have to do the time trial of his life to conserve the second place.
Matthias Frank (Garmin) has been the sensation of the Tour de France. The Swiss has managed to hold the yellow jersey for as many as 10 days and is defending his second place in the GC fiercely. However, today's time trial was too much for him to defend against Mollema even though his performance was quite good. He was 19th in the finish line 2' 09'' behind Meyer, what makes him lose the second place to Mollema by 46 seconds. The great success for him is that he will be in tomorrow's podium in Paris.
The yellow jersey of Tejay van Garderen was last to finish. The American was again outstanding in the time trial and he almost caught Matthias Frank. It was not quite enough to win the day though. He was only 15 seconds slower than Cameron Meyer, who has therefore won the three time trials of the Tour. Tejay van Garderen looks set to take his first Tour de France tomorrow with a gap of 1' 22'' on Bauke Mollema and 2' 08'' on Matthias Frank.
Elsewhere in the top 10 Mikel Nieve managed to displace his teammate Thibaut Pinot from the 7th place of the GC and Frank Schleck gained the 9th place from Jelle Vanendert. BMC, Belkin and Discovery Channel are going to put 2 riders each in the final top 10 of the Tour, which might be a bit worrying for the smaller teams. Only the great performance of Matthias Frank will give them some hope.
The final party of the Tour will take place as usual in the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Today's stage will be almost surely finishing in a mass sprint overlooking the Arc de Triomphe. Tejay van Garderen will be surrounded by Bauke Mollema and Matthias Frank in the final podium taking his first Grand Tour.
The break of the day was quite large for the final day of the Tour. At 10 riders the main bunch is going to have to work a bit more than usual to bring them back. Among the most important riders in that group are Maxime Monfort (Quickstep), Levi Leipheimer (HTC), Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto), Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar) and Elia Viviani (Cannondale). They reached the intermediate sprint in Issy-les-Moulineux with a gap of 3' 40'' on the main bunch but it doesn't look like the teams of the sprinters are going to let them take the win today.
Radioshack, Discovery Channel and Sky perfectly timed the pace of the main bunch in order to catch the break with a few kilometers to the finish line. The gap has decreased to only 40 seconds with 13 kilometers remaining and they have the race perfectly in control. Among the sprinters, Ben Swift will probably be more focused on taking enough points to secure his green jersey and not risk a fall in the positioning battle.
Nacer Bouhanni tried to make the break live a little longer and he was only caught as the sprint trains were formed with 3 kilometers remaining. Radioshack and Discovery Channel are practically side by side with Daniele Bennati working for Andre Greipel and Jure Kocjan doing the same for Marcel Kittel. Matthew Goss and Tyler Farrar are slightly behind very well positioned. Sky is a little bit behind with Gregory Rast ahead of Ben Swift, while Yauheni Hutarovich has taken the wheel of the British.
Radioshack won the race of the trains and with slightly more than 1 kilometer remaining it is Daniele Bennati sprinting already to put Andre Greipel in the best possible position. Tyler Farrar could be the major concern for the German, as he has positioned perfectly in his back wheel. Discovery Channel's Kittel is also in the chase, while Swift seems a bit behind, maybe too much to be a threat for the win. Among those that are fighting for the green jersey Jose Joaquin Rojas is too far back to be in the contest.
Andre Greipel took a long time to come out of Bennati's wheel. He only did it with 700 meters remaining and Tyler Farrar took that chance to move to his side. It looks like the two of them have the best shot for the stage win in the Champs Elysees. Their closest rivals at that point were Matthew Goss and Denis Galimzyanov.
Andre Greipel wins in Paris! The jury had to rely on the photo finish today to decide who the winner had been. As you can see in the picture Andre Greipel, Marcel Kittel and Tyler Farrar were very closely matched. Greipel's win was the reward for the efforts that his team has put in working for him during the Tour. The win in the Champs Elysees is the sweetest of all and the moods will be high in Radioshack today.
Marcel Kittel had a very strong sprint but had to settle for second while Tyler Farrar was third even though for a moment it looked like he could take the win. Ben Swift and Mark Cavendish completed the top 5 of the day with Swift taking two stage wins and the green jersey home. As expected, nothing happened in the GC and tejay van Garderen has won his first Tour de France succeeding Bauke Mollema, who was second. The third place of the podium was for the very surprising Matthias Frank.
Laurens Ten Dam has been the revelation rider of the season. As it can be seen in his best results, the Dutch barely had any results before the 2014 season. His only win so far had come from the opening time trial of the 2009 Paris - Nice, the first stage in the story. After that, he had gone 4 years without wins working as a domestique in the many teams where he raced.
The stability for Ten Dam arrived when he was signed in 2012 by the Liquigas, now Cannondale, team. Ten Dam joined a team that was in the poorest state that a team in the World Tour can be. They finished the 2012 season dead last in the World Tour rankings far behind the penultimate team. That was the first year that the World Tour had 18 teams, but even the newest among the teams was above Liquigas.
Last year was not really better. The team finished last again in the World Tour rankings but this time their performance was acceptable in the Giro d'Italia. The team won a stage with Vasili Kiryienka and Laurens Ten Dam finished 13th in the final classification. Even though it does not sound too important it was the hint that Ten Dam might be a Grand Tour rider at some point in time.
Nevertheless, not even the people with the greatest insight on the performance of the Liquigas rider could have guessed what has happened this season. In the spring he has accumulated stages in the Paris - Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, a podium in Nice and top 5 positions in the Tirreno - Adriatico and the Dauphine. His performance has been so good so far this season that his latest 13th place in the Tour seems like a bit out of place. In a year he has gone from languishing in the middle of the rankings to be 4th at this point. It is difficult to predict what Ten Dam will be able to achieve in the future but his performances have resurrected the Cannondale team.
Only one week after the Tour de France finished the World Tour takes the bicycles again in the neighboring Spain for the Clasica de San Sebastian. The Clasica normally has a mixed startlist of riders coming from the Tour and riders that are starting to prepare for the Vuelta a España and traditionally the former are more successful. The route has been slightly changed this year to include a double climb to the Alto de Jaizkibel, what makes the race a bit more biased towards the climbers than the traditional classics riders.
In this year startlist are the winner and third classified in the Tour, Van Garderen and Frank. The winner of the two editions that have been raced in the story, Jakob Fuglsang, will also be in San Sebastian. The Dane has worked as a domestique for Mollema lately but without him around it might be his turn to return to past glories in a race that he knows very well. Brajkovic and Chavanel will also be in the start.
Favorites:
- Dries Devenyns (BMC Racing Team): Devenyns is the best BMC man for the classics, as Stetina and Van Garderen are usually more focused on the stage races, but he is as great a climber as he is a hills rider and, therefore, the route of the Clasica de San Sebastian fits him very well. He finished the Tour de France on a high note after winning the 18th stage in Peyragudes and will be looking to capitalize on his shape.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): The Clasica de San Sebastian is one of the most important races for the Euskaltel team, as it takes place in their home Basque Country. Therefore, David Lopez has made an effort to be present in the race even after the crash that took him out of the top 10 of the Tour last week. Luckily for the team, they also have Igor Anton, who could take over the leader role if Lopez is not completely fit.
- Robert Gesink (Belkin Pro Cycling): Robert Gesink surprised even his own team when he finished 4th in the last Tour de France above his teammates Rob Ruijgh and Hubert Dupont. If he can extend the peak of form he showed in France he will surely be among those fighting for the final win in San Sebastian. The only problem he might have is that he is the slowest in a sprint among the favorites for the final win.
- Frank Schleck (Radioshack - Leopard): The Luxembourgish disappointed a little bit in the Tour de France in the mountains. The lack of time trial abilities made it very difficult for him to get close to the podium but his performance was never really good in the mountains either. He will be looking to regain some confidence in San Sebastian but could have the enemy at home, as Simon Gerrans is someone to take a look at for the win as well.
Other riders that will be watched in the race will be Mikel Nieve (Discovery Channel), Pieter Weening (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), Simon Gerrans (Radioshack - Leopard), Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto - Belisol), Davide Rebellin (Movistar Team) and Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team).
The Clasica de San Sebastian route is rather easy for the first part of the race, as the riders go inland and back to the coast through roads that although not completely flat don't present much of an issue. The interesting part of the race comes when they reach the circuit in the surroundings of San Sebastian including the climbs to Arkale and Jaizkibel. The race is considerably harder since they added two laps to this circuit but the top of Jaizkibel is still a good 36 kilometers from the finish line in San Sebastian.
A break is not usually the best way to try to win a classic but some riders have to take that route in case they strike lucky. The break today was on the small side as only 5 riders made it: Linus Gerdemann (Astana), Richie Porte (HTC), Jeremy Roy (Ag2r), Sergio Henao (Sky) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Cannondale). Halfway through the race, in the sprint of Andoain, they had a gap of 7' 30'' on the main bunch. Radioshack, BMC and Quickstep were taking the responsibility to set a pace but it was not hard at all.
The first climb to Jaizkibel was not too hard. Although Maxime Monfort and George Hincapie were at the front increasing the pace a little bit barely anyone lost touch with the main bunch. However, Radioshack completely disappeared from the front places of the bunch, letting others do the work. The gap to the break has been reduced to 4' 30'' at the top of the climb.
The second climb to the Basque mountain was a lot more interesting. Tejay van Garderen decided to repay his teammates all the job they did for him in the Tour and set a high pace in the first half of the climb. Lots of riders suffered from the high rhythm and the gap to the break had been reduced to 1' 30'' at the top. Euskaltel took the command in the second part but their pace was nowhere near that of Van Garderen. The bad news in the descent came from Samuel Sanchez, who crashed and lost all options in the race.
Pieter Weening was the first rider to attack, slightly before the last climb to Arkale. He was quickly followed by the likes of Dries Devenyns, Chris Froome and Simon Gerrans but Euskaltel was determined to control their home race and brought them back as they were starting to climb to Arkale, with 17 kilometers to go. The break was already about to being caught at that point.
There were lots of attacks from the favorites in the slopes of Arkale but no one could open a significant gap. Thibaut Pinot was the first over the top with a tiny gap of 12 seconds over a group of 10 riders including Dries Devenyns, Simon Gerrans, David Lopez and Mikel Nieve. It could well be the break that makes it to the finish, as most of the important teams are there. However, Tejay van Garderen is trying to connect but he is losing 45 seconds.
Thibaut Pinot was quickly reeled back in the group of favorites during the descent and Tejay van Garderen also managed to make contact with them. Davide Rebellin was the next to try a surprise attack and the Italian managed to open a gap of 18 seconds with 8 kilometers remaining. The most important riders that are out of the picture so far are Frank Schleck, Robert Gesink and Joost van Leijen.
Rebellin was caught in the small hill at the entrance of San Sebastian and no one tried an attack there, so it looks like the 10 men that have made it at the front are happy to wait for the final sprint. BMC and Discovery Channel both have two riders in the group, so they might have an edge in the finish. In theory Davide Rebellin and Mikel Nieve should be the fastest, but after more than 230 kilometers anything could happen.
David Lopez did not want to wait for the final sprint knowing that he is not among the quickest riders and he dragged Pieter Weening behind to open a 6 seconds gap under the flame rouge. The sprint of the men in the group had already started and Dries Devenyns was leading ahead of Simon Gerrans and Mikel Nieve. It is going to be hard for them to close the gap to the two riders ahead.
Pieter Weening wins in San Sebastian! The Dutch took advantage of the work of David Lopez to take his first win of the season. 2013 was a very difficult year for Weening, as he got no wins in the whole year. That is hard for a rider who is used to be at the top of cycling. The podium of the Spanish race was completed by David Lopez and Simon Gerrans. The Australian has been amazing in the classics this season after his two wins in the Ardennes.
Mikel Nieve, Tejay van Garderen and Bjorn Leukemans were next. Tejay van Garderen will be strengthening his lead in the World Tour ahead of the Tour of Poland, where he will not be racing. Davide Rebellin seems to have been out of energy in the final sprint, as he lost 30 seconds to the group in the last kilometer.
This season has non stop races from the Tour de France to the Vuelta a España and the next stop will be Poland. The Tour de Pologne is one of the races that the UCI is promoting in order to expand cycling outside of its traditional frontiers but for the last couple of years its classification has been downgraded to HC. The route will be the same as last year's, with a hilly first stage that was decisive in 2013 and two more hilly stage towards the end of the race.
With a few teams skipping the Polish race the field is not as strong as it could have been, especially without Quickstep and Belkin. That means that last year's winner, Johan Vansummeren, will not be in Poland to defend his crown. However, the winner two years ago, Davide Rebellin, will be and has stated that one of his targets for the season is taking the win in this race.
Favorites:
- Simon Gerrans (Radioshack - Leopard): Simon Gerrans has been one of the sensations of the season after his wins in the Amstel Gold Race and the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. With those credentials it is only logical that he is the biggest favorite to win in Poland, as the race should be decided in the hills and only in the hills. Apart from that, the Australian also showed last week that he is in good shape by taking the third place in the Clasica de San Sebastian.
- Davide Rebellin (Movistar Team): Rebellin is another rider that was in the favorites group in San Sebastian but the feeling was not as good. The Italian finished 10th after attempting an attack 8 kilometers from the finish. It might be that the Tour has taken its toll and it will be interesting to see whether he can hold on to his peak of form a little bit longer.
- Philippe Gilbert (Radioshack - Leopard): Gilbert is another of the good hills riders that will take part in the Tour de Pologne. However, the Belgian will have the same problems that he had to face in the Ardennes: having to be in the shadow of Simon Gerrans. If at that time there could be some discussion on who could be the leader of the team after the performance by Gerrans in the classics there is no doubts anymore.
- Dries Devenyns (BMC Racing Team): Devenyns was the main favorite for the Clasica de San Sebastian but even though he was in the group of favorites he never seemed to have the legs to win the day. He will have another good chance in Poland, where Van Garderen will not be present and Stetina has stated that he is far from the peak of form as he is aiming for La Vuelta. Therefore, the Belgian has the chance to prove that he has the legs to take an important result.
Other important riders that might fight for the overall win are Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha Team), Joost van Leijen, Bauke Mollema and Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil - DMC), Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol) and Rui Costa (Team Saxo - Tinkoff).
Among the sprinters the strongest in the field will be Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Matthew Goss (Lotto - Belisol), Denis Galimzyanov (Movistar Team), Simone Ponzi (Katusha Team), Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil - DMC) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi).
