Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

August 09, 2019

Tour of Poland 2019 – Stage 7 – Bukovina Resort – Bukowina Tatrzańska : 132,5 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.

Pavel Sivakov secured overall victory at the Tour de Pologne after his Team Ineos teammates distanced race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) during the hilly final stage around Bukowina Tatrzańska and then controlled every challenge from his nearest overall rivals.

Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) won the final hilly stage after launching a brave solo attack with 57km to race. He pointed to the sky as he crossed the line, dedicating his victory to Bjorg Lambrecht, who tragically died after crashing on stage 3 of the race.

The USA’s Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma) finished 55 seconds behind Mohoric, with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) third at on the stage at 1:07.

The 22-year-old Sivakov finished in the front group, 2:15 behind. In the final overall classification he finished two seconds ahead of fellow young talent Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), with Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) third at 12 seconds. Eleven riders finished within 20 seconds.

Talented young riders continued to emerge, with 22-year-old Colombian Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) fourth at 14 seconds and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) fifth in the same time. Team Ineos also won the team prize.

Sivakov showed huge potential as an under-23 rider, winning the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc, the Ronde de l’Isard and the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia. He opted to turn professional in 2018 with Team Sky and after a year of apprenticeship, he won the Tour of the Alps and went on to finish ninth in the Giro d’Italia.

Sivakov finished second behind Vingegaard on Thursday after riding a conservative but consistent race and had the strength and the team support to secure overall victory on Friday.

How it happened

The route of the concluding stage was identical to last year’s, which produced a dramatic finale, where Simon Yates took the stage honours and Michal Kwiatkowski secured overall victory. With 17 riders inside 60 seconds minute of the yellow jersey at the start, it was always going to be a very aggressive final day.

The early break of 14 formed early and would prove to be important. In there were Mohoric, Michal Goals (Team Ineos), Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates), Carlos Betancur (Movistar), Clément Chevrier (AG2R La Mondiale), Simon Geschke (CCC), Serge Pauwels (CCC), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Mathias Le Turnier (Cofidis), Ivan Rovny (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Merhawi Kudus (Astana), Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Tsgabu Grmay (Mitchelton-Scott) and José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).

They forged clear over the top the day’s first ascent and had a lead of three minutes with 100km remaining. Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) began the day in 21st overall at 2:16, and so was the virtual race leader as the break’s lead extends to 3:06.

The shark-tooth stage profile and the summer heat meant the stage would always be an elimination race. Darwin Atapuma (Cofidis) was an early victim after breaking his fork.

Mohoric was disappointed to lose time in the general classification and so took off from the break with 57km to go, in search of a stage victory. It seemed like a wild attack but he was convinced he had the power and bike skills to pull it off.

Mohoric’s lead reached a minute as the break fractured behind him and the overall contenders focused on distancing stage 6 winner Vingegaard from the peloton. He fought bravely as Team Ineos set a painful tempo but was distanced with 40km to go, losing any hope of overall victory. Suddenly the final podium was wide open and up for grabs, with Team Ineos knowing that Sivakov had a great chance of victory.

Simon Petilli, Merhawi Kudus, Carl Fredrik Hagen and Simon Geschke tried to chase Mohoric and pulled the gap back to 40 seconds but they struggled and splintered. Behind, Formolo tried his hand with Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) but they were pulled back with Salvatore Puccio doing the hard work for Team Ineos.

Mohoric led the race through the finish line and onto the shorter final lap. The Slovenian had 46 seconds in hand on a chasing group but the constant climbing was hurting everyone. Brambilla sparked an attack from riders who were not an overall threat, with Team Ineos letting them go. He was joined by Powless and the others but Mohoric was too strong for them and stayed away to take a solo victory.

Behind Sivakov was also in control. With the time bonuses already taken, he let several riders sprint for the placings before celebrating his first-ever WorldTour stage race victory with teammate Geoghegan Hart.

Results :
1 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 4:04:42
2 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:55
3 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:07
4 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:19
5 Pawe_ Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgorghe 0:01:32
6 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:57
7 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
8 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:15
9 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First
10 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
12 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
13 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Rafa_ Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
15 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
16 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
18 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
21 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
22 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
23 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
24 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
26 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:21
27 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:23
28 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:28
29 Enrico Gasparatto (Ita) Dimension Data 0:02:29
30 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:35
31 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:02:50
32 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
33 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:21
34 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:03:35
35 Luis Villalobos (Mex) EF Education First
36 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:27
37 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
38 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
39 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
40 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
41 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland
42 _ukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
43 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
44 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
45 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
46 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
47 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
48 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:04:40
49 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:04:47
50 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:04:51
51 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:01
52 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:06:44
53 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Poland
54 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
55 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos 0:07:07
56 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos
57 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
58 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
59 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:07:19
60 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:42
61 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
62 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
63 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
64 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
65 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
66 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
67 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
68 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
69 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
70 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
71 Micha_ Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
72 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
73 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
74 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
75 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
76 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
77 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
78 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Ineos
79 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
80 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:14:30
81 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
82 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:37
83 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
84 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
85 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
86 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
87 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:18:24
88 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
89 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
90 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
91 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
92 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
93 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
94 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
95 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
96 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland
97 Pawe_ Cieslik (Pol) Poland
98 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
99 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
100 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
101 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
102 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
103 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
104 Pawe_ Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
105 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
106 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
107 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
108 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
109 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
110 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First 0:19:27
DNF Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
DNF Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Pawe_ Franczak (Pol) Poland
DNF Jakub Kaczmarek (Pol) Poland
DNF Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNS Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep

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