Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

August 6, 2018

Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 3 – Stadion Slaski Chorzów – Zabrze : 139 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.

Double stage runner-up Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) made it third time lucky in the Tour de Pologne on Monday when the Clombian narrowly captured a bunch sprint win on stage 3 ahead of Daniel McLay (Team EF Education First-Drapac) and André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

Following teammate Julien Alaphilippe’s victory on Saturday in the Clásica San Sebastián, Hodeg’s win continues Quick-Step Floors staggeringly prolific run of success in 2018, with 53 UCI-classified victories – the most ever at this point in a season for the 16-year-old Belgian team – to date.

Whilst top favourite Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was unable to go for a hat-trick of stage wins in Pologne on Monday – the German national champion was blocked in against the right hand barriers with 300 metres to go on the left-hand side of the road – Hodeg received a faultless lead-out from teammate and Danish National Champion Michael Mørkøv.

A powerful late counter-charge by McLay, Greipel and McLay’s teammate Sacha Modolo came close to overtaking Hodeg. But it was too late, with the Colombian punching one arm in the air as he claimed his first win since a stage of the Volta a Catalunya this spring.

After he freewheeled to a halt, for a good half minute, Hodeg stayed slumped against the barriers, his helmet in one hand and seemingly unable to take in that he had finally conquered the stage win – and taken the race lead to boot.

“I was feeling very low after two second places and I really wanted this win today,” the Colombian said, “I’m just over the moon it’s finally arrived, and it’s all thanks to my team, they did a brilliant job.”

The early part of the stage played out in almost identical fashion to stages 1 and 2, with the only difference the names of the clutch of early breakaways doomed to fail thanks to the sprinters’ teams. This time, Matias le Turnier (Cofidis), Michal Paluta (CCC-Sprandi Polkowice), Alexander Foliforov (Gasprom-Rusvelo) and Jenthe Biernmans (Katusha-Alpecin) gained around four minutes after 30 kilometres, before Bora-Hansgrohe, courtesy (once again) largely of Cesare Benedetti, began the slow but relentless process of reeling the quartet in.

The four had a little under a minute in hand as they sped past the finish line in the shadow of the Zabrze stadium for the first time. Ahead were four circuits of a largely flat finishing circuit of the kind so beloved of Pologne’s organisers, 6.2 kilometres in length, featuring chunks of motorway and no way as technically challenging as the labyrinthine urban circuit the Pologne peloton had tackled through Katowice 24 hours before.

Sky and Groupama-FDJ began moving up as well, and with less than two laps to go, as the peloton hit speeds of up to 60kph on the broad motorway behind Zabrze stadium, it was all over for the foursome.

Bora powered to the front as a notable statement of intent with five kilometres to go, but they were comfortably matched by CCC-Sprandi’s line on the far side of the motorway. A further delegation of Mitchelton-Scott then took over at the head of affairs, followed by LottoNL-Jumbo.

After a hard swing left onto the broad 900 metre-long finishing straight, Ackermann began his sprint from a little too far back and found himself blocked in near the barriers. But Hodeg was able to power away behind Mørkøv on the far side, and by the time the Danish rider swung off, despite the ferocious counter-charge by the EF-Drapac duo and Greipel, such was the Quick Step duo’s advantage that the Colombian’s victory was a virtual certainty.

After a generous triple helping of sprint stages, the Tour de Pologne changes its profile radically on Tuesday when it heads south into the Carpathian and Beskid mountains. Anything between 2,000 and 2,800 metres of vertical climbing each stage will make each remaining day of the week-long race a potential battle between the GC stars, starting with stage 4’s short but punchy ascent to Scyrzk.

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

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 9:25:27
2 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:02
3 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:05
4 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:15
5 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:16
6 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:18
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19
10 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:20
11 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:21
12 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
13 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:22
14 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
15 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
17 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
18 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
19 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
21 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
22 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
23 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
24 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
25 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
26 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
27 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
28 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
29 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
30 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
31 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
32 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
33 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
34 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
35 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
36 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
37 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
38 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
39 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
40 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
41 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
42 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
43 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
44 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
45 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
46 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
47 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
48 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
49 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
50 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
51 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
52 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
54 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
55 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
56 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
57 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
58 Kamil Zielinski (Pol) Poland
59 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
60 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
61 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
62 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
63 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
64 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
65 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
66 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
67 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
68 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
69 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
70 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
71 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
72 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
73 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
74 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
75 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
76 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
77 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
78 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
79 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
80 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
81 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
82 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
83 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
84 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
85 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
86 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
87 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
88 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
89 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
90 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
91 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
92 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
94 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
95 Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
96 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
97 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
98 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
99 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
100 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
101 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
102 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Poland
103 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
104 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
105 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
106 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
107 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
108 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
109 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
110 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
111 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
112 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
113 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
114 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
115 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
116 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
117 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
118 Sergey Shilov (Pol) Poland
119 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
120 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
121 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
122 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
123 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
124 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team
125 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Poland
127 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
128 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
129 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:00:48
130 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
131 Pawel Franczak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:16
132 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
133 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
134 Adam Stachowiak (Pol) Poland 0:01:43
135 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:22
136 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:27
137 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:29
138 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:31
139 Lars Boom (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:45
140 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:48
141 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:57
142 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:46
143 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:21
144 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:05:59
145 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:06:13
146 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:52
147 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:07:07
148 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:07:31
149 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:07:43
150 Julian Cardona Tabares (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:08:14
151 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:16:10
152 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:18:06