Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 03, 2019

Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 1 – Krakow – Krakow : 136 km

The Tour de France has barely concluded but WorldTour stage racing returns with Eastern Europe’s biggest bike race, the Tour de Pologne, which gets under way in Krakow on Saturday. This year’s event could be even more unpredictable than usual. Tough uphill finishes and a field of racers who, for the most part, have not been in action since well before the Tour de France, combine to make the race a real blast of fresh summer air in comparison to more formulaic events.

Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) produced a powerful sprint finish to claim victory on stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne, beating Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) into second place, while Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) claimed third.

The short and flat opening leg in the hinterland of Krakow was always liable to produce a bunch finish, not least because of the depth of sprint talent in this Tour de Pologne peloton, and so it proved.

The finale was a familiar one for Ackermann, who won the corresponding stage a year ago, and he held firm when all others faded on the seemingly interminable finishing straight in Krakow to claim the leader’s yellow jersey.

Ben Swift (Ineos) opened the sprint from distance on the wide Aleja Focha in Krakow, but the Briton perhaps mistimed his effort and soon faded from contention. No matter, the touchpaper had been ignited, as Gaviria surged towards the front, guided by his teammate Simone Consonni.

Ackermann responded in kind and thundered past Gaviria and although he still had more than 100 metres left to race, the German never wilted and claimed an emphatic victory. Gaviria was making his first appearance since a knee injury forced him out of the Giro d’Italia in May, and he will draw solace from his speed here as he looks to the reminder of the season.

The Dutch champion Jakobsen had too much ground to make up in the final metres, though he did recoup some ground within sight of the line to claim third on the stage, ahead of Max Walscheid (Sunweb) and Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma).

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) missed the opportunity to sprint for stage victory after he was brought down in a crash on the final lap of the 4km finishing circuit, together with teammate Jaco Venter. The Manxman soon remounted and completed the stage, and he will hope for better fortune on the road to Katowice on Sunday.

How it unfolded

Intermittent and heavy showers of rain had buffeted Krakow and its surrounds on Saturday morning, and the early exchanges of this Tour de Pologne opener took place on slippery roads and beneath charcoal grey skies.

A three-man move comprising Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk) and the Polish national team duo of Jakub Kaczmarek and Adrian Kurek forged clear early on and built a lead of over three minutes on a peloton that was content to grant them some latitude.

Kurek picked up maximum points at the first intermediate sprint, but endured disappointment shortly afterwards, when his wheels slipped from under him on a rain-soaked stretch of cobbles, leaving just two riders out in front for the remainder of the afternoon.

Planet, by now a veteran of such moves, claimed the king of the mountains jersey after calmly out-sprinting Kaczmarek atop each of the day’s three category 4 climbs, while his breakaway companion will wear the blue jersey of most aggressive rider on Sunday.

Behind, Bora-Hansgrohe – and Maciej Bodnar in particular – performed the pace-making, alongside Deceuninck-QuickStep and UAE Team Emirates, and this coalition of sprint teams helped to keep the break’s lead at around 1:30 or so for much of the afternoon.

As roads dried out on the approach to Krakow, so too did the peloton’s urgency increase, and they pegged back Planet and Kaczmarek with 14km to go, just before they crossed the finish line for the first time.

Just before the juncture was made, a crash in the peloton saw the Cofidis duo of Luis Angel Maté and Filippo Fortin come down, and both men would be forced to abandon the race.

Once on the finishing circuit, Team Ineos helped to ratchet up the pace thanks to an impressive cameo from Vasil Kirienka, and the high speed thereafter ensured that there would be no late attacks to upset the sprinters.

After taking the bell, Cavendish came down in a low-speed crash on a sharp left-hand corner, leaving him no time to regain his place ahead of the inevitable bunch finish. On the last lap, Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took command of affairs on the front, and when he swung over at the flamme rouge, it was Jumbo-Visma who hit the front on behalf of Van Poppel.

The first sprinter to open his effort in the final was Swift, but the Briton was soon passed by Gaviria, who in turn had to yield to the overwhelming strength of Ackermann.

Results :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:57:58
2 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
3 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
4 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
6 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
7 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
8 Paweł Franczak (Pol) Poland
9 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
10 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
11 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
12 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
14 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Mamyr Stash (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
16 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
17 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
18 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
20 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos
21 Enrico Gasparatto (Ita) Dimension Data
22 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
23 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
24 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
25 Sergey Shilov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
26 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
27 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
28 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First
29 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
30 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
31 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Ineos
32 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
33 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
34 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
36 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
37 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
38 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
39 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
41 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
43 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
44 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
45 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
46 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
47 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
48 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
49 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
50 Gino Mäder (Swi) Dimension Data
51 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
52 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
53 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
54 Łukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
55 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
56 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
58 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
59 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
60 Alexander Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
61 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep
62 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
63 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
64 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
65 Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
66 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
68 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
69 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Poland
70 Paweł Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgorghe
71 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos
72 Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
73 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
74 Luis Villalobos (Mex) EF Education First
75 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
76 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
77 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
78 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
79 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
80 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
81 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
83 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
84 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
85 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
86 Paweł Cieslik (Pol) Poland
87 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
89 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
90 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
91 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
92 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
93 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
94 Fumiyaki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo)
95 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
96 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
97 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
98 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
99 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
100 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
101 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
102 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
103 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
104 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
105 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
106 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
107 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
108 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
109 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
110 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
111 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
112 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
113 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
114 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
115 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
116 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
118 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
119 Adrian Kurek (Pol) Poland
120 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
121 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
122 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
123 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
124 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
125 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
127 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
128 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
129 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
130 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
131 Michał Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
132 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
133 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
134 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
135 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:25
136 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:32
137 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 0:00:49
138 Paweł Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:00:51
139 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
140 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:56
141 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:01:13
142 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:47
143 Samuel Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
144 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:53
145 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First 0:01:59
146 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
147 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:02:51
148 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
149 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
150 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:03:31
151 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:03:38
DNF Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 2:57:48
2 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland 0:00:03
3 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:04
4 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
5 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:06
6 Adrian Kurek (Pol) Poland 0:00:07
7 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:09
8 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:10
10 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
11 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
12 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
13 Pawe_ Franczak (Pol) Poland
14 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
15 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
16 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
17 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
19 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Mamyr Stash (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
21 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
22 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
23 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
25 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
26 Enrico Gasparatto (Ita) Dimension Data
27 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
28 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
29 Sergey Shilov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
30 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
31 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
32 HIGUITA GARCIA Sergio Andres
33 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
34 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
35 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
36 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
38 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
39 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
40 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
41 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
42 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
43 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
44 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
45 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
46 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
47 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
48 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
49 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
50 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
51 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
52 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
53 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
54 Gino Mäder (Swi) Dimension Data
55 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
56 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
57 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
58 _ukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
59 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
60 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
61 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
62 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
63 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
64 Alexander Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
65 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep
66 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
67 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
68 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
69 Rafa_ Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
70 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
71 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
72 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Poland
73 Pawe_ Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgorghe
74 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
75 Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
76 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
77 Luis Villalobos (Mex) EF Education First
78 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
79 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
80 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
81 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
82 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
83 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
84 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
85 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
86 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
87 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
88 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
89 Pawe_ Cieslik (Pol) Poland
90 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
91 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
94 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
95 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
96 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
97 Fumiyaki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo)
98 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
99 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
100 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
101 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
102 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
103 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
104 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
105 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
106 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
107 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
108 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
109 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
110 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
111 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
112 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
113 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
114 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
115 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
116 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
117 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
118 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
119 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
120 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
121 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
122 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
123 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
124 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
125 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
127 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
128 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
129 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
130 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
131 Micha_ Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
132 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
133 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
134 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
135 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:35
136 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:42
137 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 0:00:59
138 Pawe_ Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:01:01
139 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
140 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:06
141 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First 0:01:09
142 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:01:23
143 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:57
144 Samuel Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
145 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:03
146 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First 0:02:09
147 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:03:01
148 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
149 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
150 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:03:41
151 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:03:48