Stage 4 is flat again, just in case you hadn’t had enough of it. If Tyler Farrar keeps wining, he’s going to have so many bonus seconds that he may win the GC at the end of the week.
A group of eight riders had an advantage of 8’ 50’’ on the main group with 120 kilometres to go, including: Daniele Bennati (Quickstep), Vasili Kiryenka (Liquigas), Luis León Sánchez (Euskaltel) and John Degenkolb (Leopard).
The peloton was very strong once again and reeled the break back in with 28 kilometres to go. It was a matter of who was the fastest to the line now.
The main sprinters were better positioned today, with Tyler Farrar, Alexandre Vinokourov, Jakob Fuglsang and Peter Sagan really close
Jakob Fuglsang wins in Rzeszow! The Danish rider beats Tyler Farrar to grab his first win of the season. A good win for a much needed Leopard team that hasn’t found its way yet this season.
Meanwhile, Farrar keeps increasing his lead in the GC, now up to 32 seconds on most of the favourites. The sprinter will probably suffer on the next stages, but the hills are not that hard and maybe he can keep up.
The fifth is the first stage for the riders that want to fight for the overall win. The stage has two very different parts. The first half is really flat again, but the riders will have to face 9 hills in the last 70 kilometres. The last part is a circuit with 2 hills that will be gone through almost four times.
The four riders in today’s break were 5’ 35’’ ahead of the pack at the start of the first climb. They were Alessandro Petacchi (BMC), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Jose Rujano (Rabobank) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky).
There was some fight in the peloton for the mountain jersey, but the four men in front were taking so many points that had the top positions guaranteed. Meanwhile, the pack was having a hard time closing the gap to the break and in the fifth hill (35 km to go) the gap was 1’ 45’’.
Bradley Wiggins lost contact with the break in the following lap. The British was losing 55 seconds and the peloton was 1’ 30’’ back.
Rojas was the strongest attacker and he entered the last kilometre with a few metres on his fellow Spaniard Oscar Freire. They had a gap big enough to fight for the win.
The men of the break had a good day even though they couldn’t make it to the finish. As a reward, Petacchi is the mountain leader and Rujano is the best youngster thanks to 1 bonus second. Tomorrow’s stage is a continuous up and down of hills, so we should have an entertaining stage.
The sixth is the most decisive stage in the Tour of Poland. It is another circuit with two consecutive climbs that suits the riders who do well in the hills. The GC is very packed, so there are a lot of riders with chances to progress.
Today’s break was made of 7 riders; among them were Andres Kloden (Radioshack), Alessandro Ballan (Liquigas), Simone Ponzi (Quickstep) and Daniel Martin (Garmin). In the second climb, with 110 km to go, they were 4 minutes ahead of the peloton.
In the fourth climb two important riders broke away from the peloton: David López and Thor Hushovd. At the top of that climb they were 1’ 40’’ behind the first group and 50’’ ahead of the pack.
The break of the duo didn’t last more than a lap to the circuit, as they were too dangerous. At the top of the eighth climb, with 33 km to go, the gap of the front group was down to 1’ 25’’.
At the start of the last climb Daniel Martin, Andreas Kloden and Tiago Machado have 40’’ on a fast approaching peloton.
The peloton caught the break in the climb, but as soon as that happened Thor Hushovd and Dries Devenyns launched a hard attack. They were able to crown the hill with 20 seconds on the pack.
Hushovd and Devenyns were able to maintain a small lead and were able to fight for the stage victory and maybe for the yellow jersey.
Thor Hushovd wins in Zakopane! The Norwegian was feeling really strong today, as he was the rider that tried to break the race earlier. He easily outsprinted Devenyns, who never seemed able to overtake in the sprint.
The peloton crossed the line 29 seconds behind, and that means that Jose Joaquin Rojas keeps the yellow ahead of the last stage. Hushovd climbs to third 6 seconds behind and Devenyns to fourth 10 seconds back. This means that the bonus seconds could play a role in the last stage, with 3 sprints and the finish.
What could have been a walk in the park for the leader of the Tour de Pologne becomes a difficult fight for bonus seconds in the last stage in Poland. The stage has no thrests but the three sprints and the finish, so Omega Pharma Lotto should let a break go through the sprints.
A break did get away that took out all the bonus seconds on the first three sprints. They were John Gadret (Sky), Cameron Meyer (Quickstep), Michael Albasini (BMC) and Laurens Ten Dam (Euskaltel). They had a maximum gap of 5 minutes on the first sprint.
The break ends with 22 km to go. Rojas seems more or less safe with the seconds he has in hand, but Farrar could make a push for second overall if he is able to win the third stage in Poland.
Beñat Intxausti ahead of Farrar, Vinokourov and Thor Hushovd in the final sprint. The Norwegian wants to win the Tour of Poland on the bonus seconds!
Tyler Farrar wins in Krakow! The American shows who’s the best sprinter and grabs his sixth win of the season. He cannot jump to second overall though, as Thor Hushovd comes third and takes the second overall with Farrar third and Freire fourth. Rojas is the overall winner in Poland, making good the few seconds that he got in a break alongside Freire in the fifth stage.
Tyler Farrar is closing in Vinokourov in the UCI World Tour rankings, as both sprinters are only 20 points apart. Meanwhile, Devenyns has improved to 3rd, Hushovd to 5th and Rojas to 8th.
With barely any rest, the Eneco Tour starts 2 days after the end of the Tour of Poland. We will be racing in the road of Belgium and the Netherlands, so no big mountains but many small hills and cobbled sections. The race will also have two time trials, in Amersfoort and Roermond. Although they are not long, the time trialists will have a good chance, as they can have a good gap on those stages.
Favourites:
- Oscar Freire (Rabobank): The Rabobank leader has all the skills needed to win at home. He is good on hills, cobbles and in time trials. Besides, he will have all the support from the local fans.
- Rigoberto Uran (Sky): The Colombian has been very unfortunate this season, with falls in Tirreno and Poland. He is a good time trialist but will suffer in the cobbled sections.
- Samuel Sánchez (Saxo Bank): The good time trial abilities of Sanchez can help him battle for the overall win in the Netherlands. If the race gets too tough on the cobbles Saxo Bank always has the option of Alberto Contador.
- Thor Hushovd (Garmin): Garmin has good chances with both Hushovd and Bozic. We pick Hushovd, as he usually gets the leading role in the team.
The Eneco Tour starts with a short prologue of 6 kilometres in the city of Amersfoort. Samuel Sánchez has been the benchmark in the time trials, as he has won both in Tirreno and Romandie.
Samuel Sánchez was indeed the first to set a refernce time: 7’ 32’’. It would be hard to beat the Spaniard.
Thor Hushovd did well in the time trial, losing only 4 seconds on Sánchez’s time.
Rigoberto Uran ends Samuel Sanchez winning streak as he improves the best time to 7’ 29’’, 3 seconds better than the Spaniard.
Tom Boonen improved a lot compared to other time trials, as he set the second best time, 3 seconds behind Uran.
Oscar Freire had a good start in Amersfoort as well. He wasn’t aiming for victory, but he got a 4th when he crossed the line, 4 seconds behind.
Jelle Vanendert was the last of the favourites to be on the track and the worst of them. He could only finish 7th, 7 seconds behind.
The second stage in Holland only has the threat of the wind. It is clearly a stage for the sprinters, as the route is completely flat.
4 riders were in the break of the day: Matthew Goss (BMC), Igor Anton (Euskaltel), Levi Leipheimer (Radioshack) and Vasili Kiryenka (Liquigas). They had 6’ 10’’ on the pack with 100 kilometres to go. The wind had not appeared, so the stage was really quiet.
The break wasn’t successful and ended with 30 kilometres to go. This left the group to fight for the last sprint, taken by Grega Bole. There were only 14 kilometres now to the finish.
Many favourites were having trouble at the sprint as the Saxo Bank train missed the head on the narrow road. Bjorn Leukemans was the first with 1 km to go, ahead of Ballan, Bozic and Van Garderen.
Borut Bozic wins in Sint Willebrord! And Chris Froome gets the 1-2 for Team Garmin. Bozic was the best positioned fast man and easily won the second stage in the Eneco Tour. It was quite a surprise from the Slovenian.
The bonus seconds allow the Garmin duo to move up in the GC, to the second and third positions. Froome extends his lead in the white jersey to 7 seconds and grabs the points classification.
The third stage in the Eneco Tour is also rather flat. There are a couple of cobbled sections at the start of the stage, but nothing relevant in the fight for the stage. The only threat to Uran’s lead should be the time bonuses.
After a very quiet start of the stage, a group of four riders jumped after the first sprint: Alessandro Ballan (Liquigas), Pablo Lastras (Omega), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC) and Eros Capecchi (Lampre). They were 5 minutes ahead of the peloton with 95 kilometres to go.
The break was doing a good job and with 15 kilometres to go they still held a lead of 1’ 05’’ on the peloton. However, the pack was closing in very fast.
The break was finally caught with 5 km to go, but Beñat Intxausti attacks immediately, followed by Bole and Kittel. There is no reaction from the peloton and the three of them could be ahead enough to fight for the stage win.
The three of them opened a gap big enough to sprint without worrying for the peloton. Grega Bole started the sprint ahead of Intxausti.
Beñat Intxausti wins in Ardooie! He could outsprint Grega Bole in the last meters of the stage to take his first win of the season. Better than that, the judges decided to award a time gap between the three of them and the peloton, so the Spaniard will take the yellow jersey and Marcel Kittel the white one.
The gap was only 25 seconds over a pack lead by Tyler Farrar, who is looking to add to his count of victories for the season, but hasn’t had luck. Tomorrow will be a day for men stronger in the hills and cobbles, as the route has several hills.
The fourth stage could be the most decisive of the race along with the time trials. The route is full of hills, including the murs of Huy and Amay. Besides, there is a part of cobbles at 45 kilometres from the end that will and fatigue to the riders. The best riders on the hills should have an advantage today.
As always, a group of riders were ahead at the stage mid point. It was a group of 9, including: Michael Matthews (BMC), John Degenkolb (Leopard), Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) and Bart de Clerq (Omega). They had a gap of 8 minutes while climbing the Mur d’Amay, 120 km to the finish.
The break had a good advantage of 4’ 15’’ on the last section of cobbles. There were 45 kilometres to the finish. It was the longest section of the day and when the pack reached that point the peloton was almost in a one man line.
On the second climb to the Cote Saint-Roche (17 km to go) the riders in the break already knew that they were going to make it. Taylor Phinney lost contact at the start of the climb, so it would be 8 riders for the win and the yellow jersey. Radioshack didn’t receive any help at the front of the peloton and the peloton was 4’ 30’’ behind.
Lars Ytting Bak also lost contact in the last serious hill of the day, La Flime. They only had to descend towards Andenne now.
Steven Kruijswijk was the first to start the dowhill sprint, followed by the local Bart de Clerq, Damiano Cunego and John Degenkolb.
Steven Kruijswijk wins in Andenne! The Rabobank rider was marginally faster than Bart de Clerq and grabs both the stage win and the yellow jersey.
4’ 30’’ behind the Dutch arrives the peloton, led by Filippo Pozzato. This was a huge miscalculation by the peloton, combined with the fact that Radioshack run out of strength and no other team was willing to help them chase.
This break leaves almost everyone else without chances in the GC, as there is no ground to recover that amount of time. Tomorrow’s time trial is fairly short and the differences will be really small.
