Poland's NCs 2013 will be hosted by Sedziszow, featuring a tough 246km flat road race with several short climbs. So it may be an open race, suiting the "climbing" sprinters more than a pure one..
12 riders from 7 teams will be at the start and it's hard to pick a top-favorite: Ulanwoski (Lotto) and Golas (Credexbank) could do well here, especially as the latter has the biggest support (2 riders) of all participating teams..
The 3-men-breakaway, that went early into the race, features two of the strongest teams in numbers:
Honkisz (Credexbank)
Mazur (Lotto)
Majka (Project 1t4i)
Bad news for all of those, who did not make this break: both Lotto and Credexbank looked like the only teams feeling responsible for chasing a breakaway..
Tough weather conditions and a 240km-race.. that's too much for the 9-men-bunch, which didn't even try to control the gap:
Kwiatkowski (B&O) is the one to call the team car(s) in order to soon quit the race and following the race in a more comfortable place. The gap, by the way, grew to more than an hour with still more than 100km to go!
So let's focus on those, who actually try to make this race a race:
Mazur attacks the leading group with 24km remaining! He would struggle to open up a decent gap, but tries it again..
He eventually launched three attacks, but never managed to drop his two breakaway companions! At least he tried:
with now a kilometre to go, Mazur sees Honkisz kicking off the sprint with an impressive speed..
..for an easy win! Adrian Honkisz secures Credexbank Poland's National Road title, ahead of Majka and an totally exhausted Mazur.
So it may be the timetrial (again) providing a more contested hunt for glory: Bodnar (Venchi) and Mazur (Lotto) as the favorites, with maybe Niemiec (Credex) having a shot, too.
Veteran Niemiec is the third to last hitting the road and he crushes the previous BT's for a yet comfortable lead. Did he put some pressure on the two top-favorites to come?
He did! Actually, he did even more than that: Niemic with a 7"-lead on Bodnar at today's only split, with Mazur being even 11" behind. Will they manage to fight back?
Mazur can't! He finishes 21" slower than Niemiec and may end up 3rd just like in his unlucky road race, where he was the most aggressive rider.
Bodnar can't either! Just like Mazur, the top-favorite loses some more seconds on Niemiec, who wins the TT by 12" on Bodnar! Very well done for a Credexbank-double in Poland!
Poland's NCs 2013 will be hosted by Sedziszow, featuring a tough 246km flat road race with several short climbs. So it may be an open race, suiting the "climbing" sprinters more than a pure one..
