Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 4, 2018

Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 1 – Krakow : 134 km

Following on the Tour de France, the Tour de Pologne is the next stop on the UCI WorldTour, with a punchy seven-stage race that is often decided by seconds. Last year, it was BMC’s Dylan Teuns who claimed the victory, and the Belgian will be back to try and defend his title. Other contenders include Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Pascal Ackermann. Polish riders Michal Golas, Lukasz Wisniowski and national champion Michal Kwiatkowski feature in Team Sky’s squad.

A superb mid-season for Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) showed no sign of ending on Saturday as the German sprinter notched up a narrow but clear victory in the flat opening stage of the Tour de Pologne.

Still only 24, Ackermann fended off another up-and-coming fast man, Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) by less than a wheel’s width on the broad, lengthy finishing straight in Krakow. Meanwhile Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) took another big step on his comeback path after his major crash and injuries in Paris-Roubaix to claim third.

For Ackermann, victory in the Tour de Pologne’s opening stage came just six days after winning the RideLondon-Surrey Classic, and before that this season the Bora-Hansgrohe rider has captured the German National Road Race title and stages in the Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Romandie. For Bora-Hansgrohe, this is their second successive opening win in Pologne in a row after Peter Sagan captured the win on exactly the same finishing straight last year.

“It was a harder stage than expected, always up and down, but the team did a perfect job bringing me safely throughout the day,” Ackermann said.

“Then there was a hectic finale, and I could feel Hodeg getting closer, but I saw the finish line was close enough and it was OK.”

The Tour de Pologne bunch rolled out from the central town square in Krakow in the late afternoon in blazing sunshine, for a 133 kilometre circular course largely on rolling rural roads, but starting and finishing in Poland’s former capital city.

A break of four went clear almost as soon as the bunch reached the end of the lengthy neutralised section, including experienced breakaway specialist Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), along with local riders Michal Paluta (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) and Michal Podlaski (Reprezentacija Polski), as well as Stephane Rossetto, a Frenchman with Cofidis.

After a fast but largely uneventful stage, Rossetto was the last of the quartet to be reeled in, breaking away from the trio on the rolling sunlit roads in the last 17 kilometres as the skyline of Krakow loomed in the distance once more.

The Cofidis racer made it across the line for the first of three four-kilometre laps that concluded the stage with a 20 second advantage, but his chances of staying away were fast evaporating in the intense evening heat and 10 kilometres from the line, the combined forces of UAE Team Emirates and Lotto-Soudal ended his bid off the front.

Sylvain Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale) loped away briefly in a bid for lone glory but Bora-Hansgrohe and LottoNL-Jumbo were having none of it, and as the bunch angled round the last left hand corner with around 900 metres to go, it was clear that only a sprint could decide the stage.

Ackermann’s jump “surprised me and I needed to react, but it was a bit late,” Hodeg later told Cyclingnews. But although the young Colombian tried to close in on the German, Ackermann gauged his power perfectly to cross the fast-approaching line as a clear winner – and become the 2018 Tour de Pologne’s first leader in the process.

Results :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 2:59:11
2 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
6 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
7 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
8 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
10 Pawel Franczak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
11 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
12 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
13 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
14 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
15 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
16 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
17 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
19 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
21 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
22 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
23 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
24 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
25 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
26 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
27 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
28 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
29 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
30 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
31 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
32 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
33 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
34 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
36 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
38 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
39 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
40 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
41 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
42 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
43 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
44 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
45 Kamil Zielinski (Pol) Poland
46 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
47 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
48 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
49 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
50 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
51 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
52 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
53 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
54 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
55 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
56 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
58 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
59 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
60 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
61 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
63 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
64 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
65 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
66 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
67 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
68 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
69 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
70 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
71 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
72 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
73 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
74 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
75 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
76 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
77 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
78 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
79 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
80 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
81 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
82 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
83 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
84 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
85 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
86 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
87 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
89 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
90 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
91 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
92 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
93 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
94 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
95 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
96 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
97 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
98 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
99 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
100 Adam Stachowiak (Pol) Poland
101 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
102 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Poland
103 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
104 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
105 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
106 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
107 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
108 Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
109 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
110 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
111 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team
112 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
113 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
114 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
115 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
116 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
117 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
118 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
119 Sergey Shilov (Pol) Poland
120 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
121 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
122 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
123 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
124 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
125 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
126 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
127 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
128 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
129 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
130 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
131 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
132 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
133 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
134 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Poland
135 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
136 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
137 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
138 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
139 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:26
140 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
141 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:41
142 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:46
143 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
144 Lars Boom (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:29
145 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:49
146 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:00
147 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:40
148 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:46
149 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:05
150 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:30
151 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:05:54
152 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:09
153 Julian Cardona Tabares (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
154 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:15:48

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 2:59:01
2 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:04
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:06
4 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:07
5 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:08
6 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:09
7 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
8 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
10 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
13 Pawel Franczak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
14 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
15 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
16 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
17 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
18 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
19 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
21 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
22 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
23 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
24 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
25 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
26 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
27 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
28 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
29 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
30 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
31 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
32 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
33 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
34 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
35 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
36 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
37 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
38 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
39 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
40 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
41 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
43 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
45 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
46 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
48 Kamil Zielinski (Pol) Poland
49 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
50 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
51 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
52 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
53 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
54 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
55 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
56 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
57 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
58 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
59 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
60 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
61 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
62 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
63 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
64 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
65 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
66 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
67 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
68 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
69 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
70 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
71 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
72 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
73 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
74 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
75 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
76 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
77 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
78 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
79 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
80 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
81 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
82 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
83 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
84 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
85 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
86 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
87 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
88 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
89 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
90 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
91 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
92 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
93 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
95 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
96 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
97 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
98 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
99 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
100 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
101 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
102 Adam Stachowiak (Pol) Poland
103 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
104 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Poland
105 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
106 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
107 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
108 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
109 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
110 Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
111 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
112 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
113 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team
114 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
115 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
116 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
117 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
118 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
119 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
120 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
121 Sergey Shilov (Pol) Poland
122 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
123 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
124 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
125 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
126 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
127 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
128 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
129 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
130 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
131 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
132 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
133 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
134 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Poland
135 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
136 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
137 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
138 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
139 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:36
140 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
141 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:51
142 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:56
143 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
144 Lars Boom (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:39
145 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:59
146 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:10
147 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:50
148 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:56
149 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:15
150 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:40
151 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:06:04
152 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:19
153 Julian Cardona Tabares (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
154 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:15:58