Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

August 08, 2019

Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 6 – Zakopane – Zakopane : 155 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.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won a three-way breakaway sprint that secured him the stage 6 victory and moved him into the overall lead at the Tour de Pologne. The 22-year-old Dane launched his sprint first with roughly 300 metres to go to beat Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) and Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb) in Kościelisko.

The three riders broke clear of the reduced group on the final climb to Gubałówka that peaked roughly 2.5km from the finish line in Kościelisko. Hindley led the breakaway down the tricky descent and onto the city streets, through the last corners and into the final 500 metres. Vingegaard used Hindley’s effort as a springboard to launch his winning sprint with 300 metres to go, leaving his two companions to race in for minor places on the podium.

Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) crossed the line eight seconds in arrears. A third group that included some of the main GC contenders crossed the line another two seconds back.

Vingegaard moved into the overall leader’s jersey that had previously been worn by Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) since he won the opening field sprint on stage 1. Vingegaard heads into the final stage 7 on Friday with a four-second advantage over Sivakov and six seconds to Hindley.

How it unfolded

The peloton faced five laps of a 29km hilly circuit for the sixth stage of the Tour de Pologne, and each lap included a steep climb up to Pitoniówka. The was also one climb to Gubałówka before the descent to the finish in Kościelisko.

Four riders formed the early breakaway, including Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Simon Geschke (CCC Team), Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Petr Vakoc (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

The quartet pushed their lead out to just over two minutes, but that was reduced to 1:30 as Astana led the peloton behind for their GC riders Miguel Angel Lopez and Dario Cataldo. Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma also sent several riders to the fore to help manage the time gap to the breakaway.

The breakaway fell apart over the main climb on the third lap, the ascent to Pitoniówka, with Geschke going along off the front. Behind the peloton also split into several groups as the overall contenders slashed the gap to Geschke down to just 30 seconds before reaching the top. A short lull in the field allowed the four breakaway riders to reform, but they were all reeled in shortly after that.

With 40km to go, the peloton split into three main groups. Ten riders, including the likes of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) and Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), took the reins, while smaller groups chased frantically behind to close the gaps.

Of the front select group, Tsgabu Grmay (Mitchelton-Scott) made the first strong attack over the first of three final climbs in the closing 30km of the race. He was joined by Ben Swift (Team Ineos) just ahead of the penultimate climb of the day, and the last ascent to Pitoniówka.

Swift upped the pace on the climb, just enough to cause Grmay to fall off the pace. The British road champion continued alone, cresting the summit to take maximum points, but more importantly in pursuit of the stage victory and in an attempt to move up from third overall in the GC.

The road continued to rise gently after crossing under the KOM banner. Swift looked back to see the colours of Jumbo-Visma, along with Majka and Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the front of the reduced group just 20 seconds back. His teammates Geoghagan Hart and Sivakov would later thank Swift because his short-lived breakaway gave them some reprieve during the closing kilometres in the chase group.

The chase lacked any significant organisation, however, until they hit the final 4.4km climb to Gubałówka, and Swift’s 10-second advantage vanished. Vingegaard, Hindley, and James Knox (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Sivikov caught and passed Swift on the steep slopes.

Both Swift and Knox fell off the back almost immediately, but Sivakov held strong among the front trio, with Vingegaard and Hindley, as they climbed to Gubałówka.

The road flattened out and then kicked up one last time before Vingegaard, Hindley and Sivakov finally reached the top with less than 2.5km to go. The trio set themselves up for the fast descent toward the finish city of Kościelisko led by Hindley. It was Vingegaard who proved strongest of the three, winning the stage and moving into the overall lead.

Results :
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:07:13
2 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
3 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
4 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First 0:00:08
5 Rafa_ Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:10
6 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
9 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
12 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:13
13 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:25
14 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:33
15 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:00:47
16 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos
17 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:49
18 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
19 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:51
20 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:15
21 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:33
22 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:47
23 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:02:06
24 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:55
25 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
26 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
27 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
28 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:28
29 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:42
30 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:07
31 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Poland 0:12:51
32 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:14:08
33 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:02
34 Pawe_ Cieslik (Pol) Poland
35 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
36 Enrico Gasparatto (Ita) Dimension Data
37 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
38 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
39 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
40 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
41 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
43 _ukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
44 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
45 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
46 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
48 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
49 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
50 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
51 Micha_ Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
52 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
53 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
54 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
55 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep
56 Pawe_ Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgorghe
57 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
58 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
59 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
60 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
61 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
62 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
63 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
64 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
65 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
66 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
67 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
69 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
70 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
71 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
72 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
73 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos
74 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
75 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
76 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
77 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
78 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
79 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
80 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
81 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
82 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
83 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
84 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
85 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:15:11
86 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 0:20:58
87 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
88 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
89 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Ineos
90 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
91 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
92 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
93 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
94 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
95 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
96 Pawe_ Franczak (Pol) Poland
97 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
98 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
99 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
100 Luis Villalobos (Mex) EF Education First
101 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
102 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
103 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
104 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
105 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
106 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
107 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
108 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
109 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
110 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
111 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
112 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
113 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
114 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
115 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
116 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
117 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:25:53
118 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
119 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
120 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
121 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
122 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:26:00
123 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
124 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
125 Pawe_ Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
DNF Adrian Kurek (Pol) Poland
DNF Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
DNF Fumiyaki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo)
DNF Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
DNF Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
DNS Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
DNF Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
DNF Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Mamyr Stash (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
DNF Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
DNS Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
DNF Samuel Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Sergey Shilov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo

General Classification after Stage 6 :
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 22:13:57
2 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos 0:00:04
3 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:06
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:17
5 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First 0:00:18
6 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:19
7 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:20
8 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
9 Rafa_ Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
11 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
12 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:23
13 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:35
14 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:43
15 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:49
16 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:59
17 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
18 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:01
19 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:25
20 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:57
21 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:02:16
22 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:58
23 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
24 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:03:05
25 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
26 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
27 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:45
28 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:38
29 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:52
30 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:06
31 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Poland 0:12:59
32 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:14:18
33 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:06
34 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:10
36 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:15:11
37 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:12
38 Enrico Gasparatto (Ita) Dimension Data
39 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
40 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
42 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
43 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep
44 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
45 _ukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
46 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
47 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
48 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
49 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
50 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
51 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos
52 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
53 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
54 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
55 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
56 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
57 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
58 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
59 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
60 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
61 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
62 Micha_ Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
63 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
64 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
65 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
66 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
67 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
68 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
69 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
70 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
71 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
72 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
73 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
74 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:16:18
75 Pawe_ Cieslik (Pol) Poland 0:17:14
76 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:17:29
77 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:44
78 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:18:00
79 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:18:01
80 Pawe_ Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgorghe 0:19:40
81 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:20:14
82 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:21:08
83 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
84 Luis Villalobos (Mex) EF Education First
85 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
86 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Ineos 0:22:22
87 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:23:28
88 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland 0:23:34
89 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:23:40
90 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
91 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:23:59
92 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:24:02
93 Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland 0:24:03
94 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data 0:24:06
95 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:24:34
96 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:24:46
97 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 0:24:50
98 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:25:19
99 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:25:37
100 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:25:52
101 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:26:03
102 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First 0:26:43
103 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:27:10
104 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:27:17
105 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:27:49
106 Pawe_ Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:28:05
107 Pawe_ Franczak (Pol) Poland 0:28:27
108 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:28:35
109 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
110 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
111 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
112 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
113 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:29:26
114 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:29:30
115 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:30:05
116 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:32:17
117 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:32:37
118 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:33:13
119 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk 0:34:44
120 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:34:48
121 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First 0:35:51
122 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:36:45
123 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida 0:37:03
124 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:10
125 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:41:46