Tour of Poland

Stage 7:  Nowy Targ to Kraków, 163.9km/102mi

By Cathy Mehl

Heavy rain in the second half of the stage made for another difficult day of racing in the Tour of Poland’s final stage on Saturday.  Yesterday’s heavy storm at the end of the race gave way to sunny skies at today’s start but more rain and sticky temperatures were on tap at the  finish in Kraków.  Very dicey turns over slippery cobbled roads leading into the city center and pools of water forming on the surface made the finish dangerous for the entire group, but German Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) showed  no fear and ramped up a winning sprint for his second stage win in this year’s trace.  Second and third went to Yauheni Hutarovich (Française Des Jeux) and Robert Förster of Rabobank.  The Shack’s Tomas Vaitkus was in the mix for the sprint after an earlier attempt to bridge to a break in the local laps near the race end.

Early attacks included one by The Shack’s Ivan Rovny along with defending champion Alessandro Ballan of BMC Racing.  Others quickly joined in the effort but too many tried to make the break and the group was shut down.  Finally the break of the day was established by three riders that went away to build a gap of more than five minutes.   As the breakaway entered the three local laps of 4km Ruiz Angel Madrazo (Caisse d’Epargne)  split from his former companions and built a gap of more than a minute to the chase put up by HTC-Columbia. On the second lap the gap began to close as riders at the back were lapped and by the final lap it was all together with 3km to go.  The sprinters’ teams went forward, setting up a group sprint won by Greipel.

Beyond the Finish Line:  Visit Wawel Cathedral.  It is over two hundred years since the last king of Poland was unceremoniously booted from power with Russian connivance, but the cathedral at Wawel remains amongst the most sacred and revered places in the land. Although it is not awe-inspiring in the sense of the vastness of a place like Notre Dame, this mysterious Gothic interior with its splendid tombs and sarcophagi, still weaves a powerful spell.

Top Ten Results

1   GREIPEL André    THR 03h 51' 58''   

2   HUTAROVICH Yauheni   FDJ       

3   FORSTER Robert   MRM       

4   BENNATI Daniele   LIQ      

5   WEYLANDT Wouter   QST     

6   KRISTOFF Alexander  BMC       

7   HINAULT Sébastien  ALM       

8   SWIFT Ben  SKY     

9   DAVIS Allan AST       

10  VITORIA David  FOT      

11  GALDOS ALONSO Aitor  EUS

Team RadioShack Results

18  VAITKUS Tomas                  

23  BEPPU Fumiyuki                    

40  ROVNY Ivan                        

46  MACHADO Tiago                 

48  IMPEY Daryl                  

95  ROSSELER Sébastien    03' 42''     

96  SELANDER Bjorn              

157 HERMANS Ben   05' 03''

Final General Classification

1   MARTIN Daniel    GRM 30h 38' 48''   

2   BOLE Grega    LAM 00' 08''     

3   MOLLEMA Bauke    RAB 00' 10''     

4   ALBASINI Michael   THR 00' 20''     

5   BALLAN Alessanandro    BMC 00' 21''     

6   SZMYD Sylwester   LIQ 00' 26''     

7   RUTKIEWICZ Marek    POL 00' 30''     

8   ULISSI Diego    LAM 00' 30''     

9   DANIELSON Thomas   GRM 00' 33''     

10  MACHADO Tiago   RSH 00' 41''

Team RadioShack on Final General Classification

18  ROVNY Ivan    02' 36''     

28  IMPEY Daryl      06' 28''     

47  BEPPU Fumiyuki     15' 08''  

69  HERMANS Ben     23' 59''

76  SELANDER Bjorn      28' 25'' 

96  VAITKUS Tomas      43' 09''

106 ROSSELER Sébastien       44' 59''

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson