Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

August 10, 2018

Tour of Poland 2018 – Stage 7 – Bukovina Resort – Bukowina Tatrzanska : 136 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) survived a gutsy late attack bySimon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) to take the overall victory in the Tour de Pologne, with the Briton forced to settle for the stage win and a second place on the final podium.

In a thrilling finale on a short but hilly stage, Yates launched an attack 10 kilometres from the line that saw him cut deep into his 39-second deficit to Kwiatkowski.

With Yates briefly the leader on the road, Kwiatkowski burned out the last of his Sky domestiques and then was forced to defend his yellow jersey in person at the front of a group of some 20 chasers.

But a flurry of late counter-attacks, most notably by George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), combined with Kwiatkowski’s late solo effort to ensure the reigning Polish National Road Champion finally captured his biggest home race for good.

A huge cheer went up at the rain-soaked finish of Bukowina Tatranska as the race speaker confirmed that Kwiatkowski, in the lead since stage 4, was declared the overall winner by 15 seconds over Yates, with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) moving over Bennett into third.

It had been a close run stage, with Sky worn down by keeping a dangerous 18-man early break – with Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) showing notable condition after his lengthy recovery from his Il Lombardia crash last year – under control on the 136-kilometre stage.

The short but formidable Sciana Bukowina, a final first category climb of six, with slopes of up to 22 per cent and 13 kilometres from the finish, saw LottoNL-Jumbo chew up the remnants of the breakaway. UAE Team Emirates racer Valerio Conti proved the most resistant.

Just as in the finale of stage 6, repeated attacks by George Bennett, also a serious threat overall, that culminated LottoNL-Jumbo’s work close to the summit significantly weakened Sky’s grip, but failed to break it. Instead, a group of a dozen riders regrouped over the top of the Sciana Bukowina and briefly after a final desperate charge by Conti – again – Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) launched his surprise move.

On a seemingly unfavourable series of false flats and drags up to the finish with sections at 11 per cent, Sky were put under serious pressure, with Kwiatkowski’s final support riders, Pavel Sivakov and Sergio Henao, hard put to keep the Briton within reach.

39 seconds behind on GC; Yates’ attack saw him come briefly within reach of the yellow, but even as Sivakov’s effort fizzled out and Henao contributed as best he can, Kwiatkowski was forced to begin his own chase at the head of the small group of contenders.

Kwiatkowski’s appeals for assistance from Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing), then lying second overall, went unanswered, and it was only when Bennett and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) began to drive hard behind that Yates’ advantage began notably to shrink. Finally, as the road’s gradient eased in the closing kilometres, the Pole could put up a more sustained acceleration, further reducing the distance, and whilst Yates soloed to victory. After crossing the line in sixth place, the Tour de Pologne was finally Kwiatkowski’s for good.

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

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