The second stage of the Tour de Pologne takes place around the town of Karpacz, very near the Czech border.
The city is only populated by 5000 inhabitants, but it’s a touristic station due to its position at the foot of the Sniezka, highest point of the Karkonosze, or Mounts of the Giants, in the Sudetenland. It’s also known for its wooden church, which was brought in from Norway in the 19th century. Be sure to give it a look while you wait for the peloton!
After yesterday flat prologue, the riders will face a much harder road: it’s quite a long stage, with 170 km, and a bumpy one: 48 KoM points are here to be taken until the first uphill arrival of the race. The road will mainly take two different circuits, with an intermediate sprint in between.
The favorites list mainly match the GC favorites list.
Mas and Areruya are those who did better yesterday.
Cloudy skies and strong wind welcome the riders at the Golebiewski hotel for the departure. Let’s see if the weather as any impact on the race.
There are no attack in the downhill section in the beginning. Seems like everybody tries not to fall. Still, the peloton is quite stretched in the slopes to the plain.
And indeed, as soon as we’re on the flat, Bystrom, Villalobos and Dyrnes try to break free of the pack.
With 150 km to go, we seem to have the break of the day! The three first attackers have a 32’’ gap on Bellis, Asgreen, Hagen and Rubio, who are 1’22 in front of the pack.
Wait! Though we believed nobody else could escape, Scheit manages to get a 40 seconds gap, despite the work of Arensman in front. Seems like Gjensidige believes in Eiking more than Tafjord in Hagen!
In the pack, Golovash, Palyi, Christodoulos, Gillett, Lindau are working. We also saw Moscon at the front. Could Jura have another leader idea?
Meanwhile, the 7 first attackers are together and near the first KoM, Staniszow. Bellis and Villalobos fast take a few meters, and the former takes the 6 points.
Villalobos and Bystrom complete the podium.
With 130 km to go, Scheit finally joins the rest of the break after a 20 km solo ride. 50 seconds behind them, Mengoulas managed to break free of the pack, which is 2’22 behind him.
There are some quite strong punchers in the break. Let’s hope for them that the other teams will not regret to have let them go.
10 km to go before the second passage on the Staniszow. Mengoulas managed to join the leaders.
Villalobos is the first to try to get the points, but he can’t keep it, and this time Bystrom takes the maximum points, followed by Mengoulas and Rubio.
The break now has a 4’20 lead with 100 km to go. Still the same teams are working in front of the pack.
They are waking up though! In less than 30 km, they take back 1’40 on the break. Seems like they sensed the danger with the good riders in the break.
Rubio and Villalobos once again try to go first to take the 3rd cat. 3 KoM.
Nobody can beat them, and Villalobos takes the maximum points and the provisional lead. He’s got 10 points, Bellis has 8, Bystrom 6. Hagen is dropped from the break, and the pack is stretching under Gjensidige’s hard pace.
Bystrom wins the sprint by nothing, Bellis and Villalobos take the rest. 72 km to go, with a 2’35 lead for the break.
Not much change 13 km later, as the break is beginning to tackle the hill to Kaplica Cmentarna – a chapel – for the first time (of 3). Hagen is still all alone, and the pack 174 men strong.
In the rear, Jabuka is lost 2’44 behind the peloton.
Bellis leaves his comrades in the hardest slopes and easily wins the first cat. 2 KoM. Enough to overcome Villalobos, only third as he’s beaten by Asgreen.
On the flat section, the peloton is exploding! We’ll come back to you after the second passage at Kaplica Cmentana to see who’s been dropped, but let’s say that the yellow jersey isn’t in a good position! (Yes, that was expected).
On the second passage, it’s Bystrom who’s the best.
Scheit and Dyrnes are the one following him.
Bystrom doesn’t wait for the rest of the break though. He’s got a 30’ lead on them.
Behind the 7 chasers, the pack is mostly together again, with a 1’00 gap.
And Bystrom is once again the stronger to take the last KoM! He did well to attack, as the pack has caught the others in the slopes – the rest of the points go to the domestiques, so Bystrom will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow. Now there’s a descent, and then 30 km of flattish road before the final climb.
The third Kaplica passage took its toll on the peloton, as 15’’ behind Bystrom we have a 22 riders group chasing. Nearly all the leaders are here, but Azman and Olesen seem to be close to break.
30’’ after this group, 11 riders are lost, mainly remains from the breakaway and, more surprisingly, Min.
The leaders that are missing in the first group are of importance: Beltran, Mas, Errazkin and Waeytens. They are 1’49 behind the leader. Will the flat section be enough for the 100 riders strong peloton to come back?
Bystrom gives up at the foot of the hill. Good ride by the Norwegian! Now there’s the question: who will set the pace in the leading group? Amaysim, Kraftwerk and Trans are the team with at least 3 riders.
But nobody wants to ride, really, and with 20 km to go, we have again a nearly complete peloton of 125. Beltran is back in front, or close from it. Still, the peloton remains stretched.
5 km to go, and a compact peloton will tackle the last climb. Let’s see who kept enough energy today!
2 km to go. Areruya’s in front, right in the wheel of Stannard. Amaysim has two good options with Storer on the right and McCarthy on the left. The latter’s in the wind though, with Faglum Karlsson in his wheel. Prevar, Chaves, Novak, Paulinho, Eiking and Beltran are all in front.
1,5 km to go as McCarthy attacks! He’s got Eiking and Prevar in his wheel.
The Aussie is still leading under the red kite, and Novak now follows him closely. Areruya is in the back of the group.
800 m remaining. McCarthy still has a bike length. Moscon, Beltran and Gaudu seem to be too far to contest the win.
600 m. McCarthy obviously went too early and is now spent. Novak takes the lead. It’s still be hard to take the win though, as Chaves, Mas and Slagter are also climbing fast.
300 m. Novak seems to find a new strength to accelerate, while behind, Eiking and Areruya are launching an attack!
We’re in the last 100 meters and the race is very indecisive! Novak is slowing down fast, as are Mas and Areruya. Hamilton is now trying to overcome everybody by the left – will he have enough time? He seems to be the only one the challenge the Slovakian climber…
Forget it! With a surprisingly strong last push, Areruya takes a fantastic win! Novak will still be happy with his second place though. Mas takes a good 3rd, which could give him the leader’s jersey, depending on the gaps which are given…
Behind them, there is a fierce battle between Moscon and Hamilton. It’s the Swiss who finishes 4th though – and his manager will probably be happy with this performance. The Australian launched his sprint a bit too late to do better than 5th.
Slagter, Chaves and Beltran are closely following, and Eiking and Prevar finish the top 10.
It’s finally Faglum Karlsson who takes the GC lead. He’s got 29’’ on Hamilton and 31’’ on Mas. The day’s winner is 4th.
Main keeps the points jersey. The points ranking’s a bit clunky, with 2 stages with very different profiles.
Bystrom really deserved his KoM jersey. He’s got 8 and 12 points lead on his breakaway companions Bellis and Villalobos respesctively.
Storer leads the young rider ranking with a fair margin on Stannard and Hirschi.
And with 3 riders in the top 15, Amaysim has a good lead in the team classification!
Tomorrow should be a calmer day, a sprinter day! We will see you there.
