Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

August 9, 2018

Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 6 – Zakopane – Bukovina Resort : 129 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.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) dug deep to retain the overall lead in the Tour de Pologne on the first of two crucial hilly stages on Thursday, with a solid defence of his lead allowing him to take third place at the Bukowina Resort finish behind stage winner Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ).

One of the most interesting points of the race came when Kwiatkowski kept going at his own pace after George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), third overall, launched a blistering three-tempo attack in the four final kilometres, briefly gapping the Pole.

The race leader benefited massively from the late accelerations by his fellow contenders like Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team), swamping Bennett’s move, which culminated with Preidler surfing away through the technical, undulating finish for victory a few metres ahead of the favourites.

Kwiatkowski remains in control of the overall classification for a third straight day, not to mention gaining another four seconds on time bonuses, to push his lead up to 16 seconds on Teuns.

“We’ve got a super strong team here, and after such an amazing last few days we were confident about what we could do,” Kwiatkowski, already the winner of stage 4 and 5, said afterwards.

With three categorized ascents (a first, second and third cat.) tackled twice in the last hour of racing through the foothills of the snow-capped Tatras mountains, stage 6’s short, punchy 129-kilometre route from Zakopane to Bukovina Resort was by no means straightforward.

Team Sky kept an early nine-rider breakaway under control. But as the break fizzled out, a sudden, brutal acceleration by Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) at the front of the line in the final hour, strongly suggested that his teammate Teuns was not going to simply settle for second place, for the third day in a row.

Dennis’ prolonged acceleration further shredded the peloton of some 60 riders as it tackled the final category 2 ascent of Czarna Gora, with the Australian still hammering away at the front ahead of teammates Bettiol and Teuns.

But halfway up, Kwiatkowski’s cohorts moved ahead, with young Pavel Sivakov and Salvatore Puccio both riding impressively and keeping the leader’s rivals under control.

Collectively, Sky barely seemed to blink when a first late attack, 12 kilometres from the line, went by Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floor) and quickly followed by Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb). The duo managed to open a gap on the fast, technical descent through mountain pasturelands, with Sky presumably happy to see the time bonuses soaked up by riders who were no threat on GC.

Then a triple acceleration by Bennett on the long, rugged drag up to Bukovina Resort saw the duo’s effort collapse, and that forced Sky’s hand a little as Kwiatkowski visibly refused to chase down the New Zealander’s move.

However, rather than Sky, it was Kwiatkowski’s rivals, spearheaded by Teuns, who chased Bennett down, leaving the front group down to half a dozen at most as they swung into the highly technical finale through Bukowina. A blistering move by Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) served as a springboard for his teammate Preidler to tear away on a downhill section, and by the time Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) reacted, the multiple Austrian time trial champion was well en route to his first-ever World Tour victory.

Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), moved into third ahead of Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), thanks to snatching second place in the tumultuous finale. But it was Kwiatkowski, ultimately, who once again came out benefiting the most.

However, for all the spectacular salvos of final attacks and counter-charges ultimately amounted to little, such aggressive, full-blooded racing bodes well for the one similarly extremely hilly stage left to go. Put simply, Kwiatkowski remains in control, but the time gaps are so small that the race is far from decided.

Results :
1 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ 3:16:01
2 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
5 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
7 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
8 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
9 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
10 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:00:04
11 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:11
12 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
13 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
14 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:15
15 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:24
18 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
19 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:28
20 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
23 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
24 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
26 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
27 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
28 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
29 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:47
30 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:48
31 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
32 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
33 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
34 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
35 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12
36 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
37 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:46
38 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:02:32
39 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:35
40 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
41 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
42 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:51
43 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:25
44 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:48
45 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:04:01
46 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Poland
47 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
48 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:44
49 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:55
50 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:05:23
51 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
52 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:26
54 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
55 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
56 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
57 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:28
58 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:05:29
59 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:32
60 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:05:35
61 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:06:05
63 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:49
64 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:08:42
65 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
66 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
67 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:09:06
68 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates 0:12:10
69 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
70 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
71 Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
72 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
73 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
75 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
76 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
77 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
78 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
79 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
80 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
81 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
82 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
83 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
84 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
85 Kamil Zielinski (Pol) Poland
86 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
87 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
88 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
89 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
90 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
91 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
92 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
95 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
96 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
97 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
98 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
99 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
100 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
101 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
102 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
103 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
104 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
105 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
106 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:29
107 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:12:31
108 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:14
109 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:14
110 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
111 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:19:54
112 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
113 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
114 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
115 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
116 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
117 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Poland
118 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
119 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
120 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
121 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
122 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
123 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
124 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
125 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
126 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
127 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
128 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
129 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
130 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
131 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
132 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:20:05
133 Lars Boom (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
134 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
135 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:22:32
136 Pawel Franczak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:25:34
137 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:25:57
138 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:26:05
DNF Julian Cardona Tabares (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
DNF Adam Stachowiak (Pol) Poland
DNF Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
DNF Sergey Shilov (Pol) Poland
DNF Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNS Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNS Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe

General Classification after Stage 6 :
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 20:46:23
2 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:16
3 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:24
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:25
5 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:28
6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:29
8 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:31
9 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:39
10 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:42
11 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
13 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:46
14 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
15 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:00:47
16 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:54
17 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:56
18 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:03
19 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
20 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:10
21 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:11
22 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:18
23 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:20
24 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:22
25 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:24
26 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
27 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:28
28 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:34
29 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:01:51
30 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:52
31 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:56
32 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:00
33 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data 0:02:07
34 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:14
35 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:25
36 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:55
37 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:26
38 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:03:32
39 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:17
40 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:05:16
41 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:47
42 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:06:35
43 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky 0:06:42
44 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:06:54
45 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:04
46 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:07:14
47 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Poland 0:07:15
48 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:20
49 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:07:32
50 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:44
51 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
52 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:08
53 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:08:41
54 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:12
55 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:09:38
56 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
57 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:33
58 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:11:02
59 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:12:03
60 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:12:11
61 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:12:56
62 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:12:57
63 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:13:06
64 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:20
65 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:13:24
66 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:13:25
67 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott 0:13:45
68 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:14:21
69 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:28
70 Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:15:35
71 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:15:43
72 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland 0:15:44
73 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates 0:16:55
74 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:03
75 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 0:18:02
76 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:18:16
77 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:19:11
78 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data 0:19:56
79 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:21:44
80 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:21:55
81 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:22:14
82 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:22:30
83 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:23:00
84 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:23:08
85 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:23:22
86 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:23:28
87 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:24:01
88 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:24:03
89 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:24:37
90 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team 0:24:47
91 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:25:44
92 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:26:02
93 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
94 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:26:13
95 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:26:15
96 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:26:36
97 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:27:36
98 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:27:38
99 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:28:40
100 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:28:50
101 Kamil Zielinski (Pol) Poland 0:29:39
102 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:29:41
103 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:31:45
104 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors 0:32:05
105 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:32:09
106 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:32:13
107 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:32:46
108 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:32:52
109 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:33:03
110 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:33:47
111 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:33:51
112 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:34:29
113 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:35:06
114 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:35:20
115 Lars Boom (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:35:48
116 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:36:25
117 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:39
118 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:37:59
119 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:38:18
120 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:38:22
121 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:38:43
122 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:39:20
123 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:39:46
124 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:40:30
125 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
126 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:40:43
127 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:41:07
128 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:43:16
129 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:45:46
130 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Poland 0:46:08
131 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
132 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:46:21
133 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:51:29
134 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:55:33
135 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 1:00:31
136 Pawel Franczak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 1:01:52
137 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 1:03:46
138 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 1:18:44