Neo pro beats better-known names in ‘fast and rough’ final
Continuing on a super debut season which has seen land eight wins with the Skil Shimano team, 23 year old Marcel Kittel inched closer to double figures when he triumphed on the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne.
The German rider blazed home at the head of a massive 170 rider bunch sprint, beating closest challengers Alexander Kristoff (BMC Racing Team) and Francesco Chicchi (QuickStep) to the line. Several well known names were a little further back, namely Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo, 4th), Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM, 7th), Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale, 11th), world under 23 champion Michael Matthews (Raboank, 14th) and Tom Boonen (QuickStep, 15th), who is on the way back from the injuries which took him out of the Tour de France.
Kittel’s win puts him in the first leader’s jersey and is the latest success in what has been a very successful debut season. He got things off the ground with a stage win in the Tour de Langkawi in January, then gained pace with four stage wins in the Four Days of Dunkirk plus victory in the 1.1 ProRace Berlin in May. Last month he took both a stage plus the overall classification in the Delta Tour Zeeland, bringing his total to eight.
Today’s success puts another notch on his stem and is the reward for some recent hard work. “It was incredible, with some very good work by the team,” he said. “The tough training days with my team-mates Albert [Timmer], Tom [Veelers] and Ronan [van Zandbeek], followed by the team camp at Alpe d’Huez were perfect preparation for this part of the season. I am very happy with this victory.”
So too his team, which has already justified its wildcard place. “It’s proof that we deserved the invitation to an important race on the World Tour calendar like the Tour de Pologne,” he said. “I have to thank my team mates, who believed in me and who set me up in an ideal position to go for a fantastic final sprint.”
Kristoff went close, but had to be content with second. He said that he’s determined to try to make amends in the days ahead. “Danilo Wyss did a super job for me,” Kristoff said. “I was perfectly positioned, but my legs were not 100 percent at the end so I didn’t make it around Kittel. But this is a good start.”
He’ll aim to step up one place on tomorrow’s stage which, conveniently, he knows. “I remember it from last year,” he explained. “It’s the same lap at the end so I know the sprint well and will try again tomorrow.”
Breakaway riders try to outfox fast finishers:
There’s some difficult stages ahead, but today’s opener in the race was very much one for breakaway riders to make their bid to get one over the bunch sprinters. That’s how things played out, with the 101.5 kilometre stage from Pruzskow to Warsaw being marked by a six-man move which went clear early on.
Those present were Polish duo Bartolomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkovice) and Adrian Kurek (Reprezentacja Polski), the Chilean rider Carlos Oyarzun (Movistar), Spain’s Rodriges Argueles (Katusha), Frenchman Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel Euskadi) and the Italian Fabio Piscopiello (De Rosa Falminia). They held off the bunch until well into the eight finishing laps on an 8.1 kilometre circuit, but eventually succumbed to the chase behind.
The fancied sprinters teams tried to set up their designated riders but Kittel, who has won a lot this year but isn’t as well known as the likes of Haussler, Sagan, Matthews or Boonen, was the one who did everything right. He reached the line first, punching the air with both hands, and nabbed win number nine of his pro career.
“It was a very fast and rough final,” the German said, confirming that things were chaotic. “First my team mate Tom Veelers steered me, then I took advantage of [John] Degenkolb’s wheel and in the final I managed to burst forth with power and beat all my rivals. In the next stages I’ve noticed there will be more sprint finishes and I’m going to try to do my best.”
Michael Golas was one of two Polish riders on the podium. He took the ‘Tauron’ jersey due to his first place at the MGP sprint, approximately ten kilometres from the finish, and enjoyed the support of the crowd at the finish.
“This is really a day for celebration,” he said. “It meant a lot to me to get up on the podium here in Warsaw, both for myself and to honour the crowd and the race with a good result.”
Kurek also soaked up the applause, receiving the red ‘Fiat’ jersey for the most aggressive rider.
Defending champion Dan Martin began his bid to try to win his second Tour of Poland. He kept out of trouble and finished safely in the main field, rolling across the line in 75th place.
Tomorrow’s stage covers 162 mainly flat kilometres from Częstochowa to Dąbrowa Górnicza.