Gorilla comes out strongest after the breakaway is caught at the end of a long hot stage
André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) won the second stage of the Tour de Pologne, the Tour of Poland, between Rawa Mazowiecka and Dąbrowa Górnicza in a bunch sprint. The big German outsprinted Allan Davis (Astana) into second and Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) into third at the end of the 240km stage.
“The sprint was a bit dangerous, slightly downhill, but I found a gap,” said Greipel afterwards. “Then I was quite happy to find another gap to start my sprint. Everyone was pretty tired after such a long stage, and the hot and humid weather wasn’t pleasant. But I felt better and better as we got close to the finish.”
The stage was dominated by a breakaway from Gabriel Rasch (Cervélo TestTeam), Tom Stubbe (OmegaPharma-Lotto), Marcin Sapa (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (Polska BGZ). The four riders escaped the peloton in the early stages and managed to build a lead in excess of 11 minutes.
With so many sprinters in the race though, their teams easily brought them back; Sapa and Matysiak, the two Polish riders, were the last to be caught but were eventually reeled in on the short finishing circuit. Greipel was the strongest at the finish, taking a comfortable victory.
Greipel, Davis and yesterday’s stage winner Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas-Doimo) are all tied on time, thanks to bonuses on the line, but Davis takes over the yellow jersey by virtue of his more consistent finishing.
Result stage 2
1. André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia
2. Allan Davis (Aus) Team Astana
3. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
4. Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
5. Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil
6. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
7. Lucas Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
8. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team
9. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux
10. Angelo Furlan (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
Standings after stage 2
1. Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step
2. Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
3. André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia
4. Aitor Galdos (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi @ 4s
5. Blazej Janiaczyk (Pol) Team Polska BGZ