Tour of Poland

Stage 3: Sosnowiec to Katowice, 122.1km/76mi

By Cathy Mehl

It was a typical northern European style of racing on Tuesday’s stage 3 in the Tour of Poland with seven closing circuits of 11.7km each in the city of Katowice.  Raced on wide boulevards before large, enthusiastic crowds, the stage resulted in a sprint victory for the third day in a row.  Today’s victory went to Yauheni Hutarovich (FdJ) in an almost photo finish with Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank).  Race leader Allan Davis of Astana took third on the stage and retained his race lead for a second day. Team rider Sébastien Rosseler moved into 19-th place on the classification and is the best-placed rider for Team RadioShack.

After 20km of racing  Séba  broke away with Simon Geschke and steadily built a gap.  Holding over a minute as they began the first lap of the circuits, the two were soon caught as more and more attacks went off the front.  Rosseler took more chances to go off the front, as did teammate Tiago Machado, but nothing was allowed to stick as the laps ticked over.

In the final two laps Vacansoleil put four of their team on the front and ramped up the pace, thwarting attempts by Team Sky and HTC-Columbia to organize their trains at the head of the peloton.  A little pitch at the end made for a difficult finish as they spread wide across the road for the sprint. Hutarovich powered up the right side of the course while Haedo took the right side with the FdJ riders just nipping the Argentinean on the line.

Wednesday’s stage 4 puts an end to the sprint stages as the peloton heads for the hills for the first day in the mountains.  Three category 1 climbs await the riders and a new race leader should emerge as the Tour of Poland continues through Saturday.  Also on Wednesday Team RadioShack will start the Tour of Denmark.   The Shack’s three new stagiaires Taylor Phinney, Jesse Sergent and Clinton Avery will be part of the team roster for the first time as they begin a trial run with the “big boys.”  It’s a big step for these young riders and we hope their first experience on this racing level is a great one.  Joining them will be Sam Bewley, Mathew Busche, Geoffroy Lequatre, Jason McCartney and  Gert Steegmans with Dirk Demol directing the squad.  

Beyond the Finish Line:  Katowice belongs to those Polish cities which do not originate from medieval towns. Downtown City was formed in the mid-nineteenth century when the city was part of the Kingdom of Prussia and had an ethnic-German majority. Established at the time, the buildings are decorated eclectic (mostly Renaissance and Baroque) as elements of Art  Nouveau style. At the end of the nineteenth century the center of Katowice was being referred to as a "little Paris", something which may surprise visitors today.

Top Ten Results

1              Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux        2:45:04                   

2              Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank                      

3              Allan Davis (Aus) Astana                                

4              Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil - Shimano                             

5              Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto                           

6              Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step                           

7              Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                     

8              Robert Förster (Ger) Team Milram                            

9              Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                                 

10            Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team

Team RadioShack Results

15           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn)

40           Daryl Impey (RSA)

70           Tiago Machado (Por)

93           Ivan Rovny (Rus)

137         Sébastien Rosseler (Bel)

140         Ben Hermans (Bel)

156         Bjorn Selander (USA)

163         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)

General Classification after Stage 3

1              Allan Davis (Aus) Astana               12:53:14                

2              André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia           12:53:17                

3              Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo    12:53:18                

4              Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux                         

5              Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi      12:53:22                

6              Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank                      

7              Blazej Janiaczyk (Pol) Poland BGZ                              

8              Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team    12:53:23                

9              Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) Poland BGZ                      

10           Laszlo Bodrogi (Fra) Team Katusha

Team RadioShack on General Classification

19           Sébastien Rosseler (Bel)  12:53:26

25           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn)  12:53:28

47           Daryl Impey (RSA)

65           Tiago Machado (Por)

73           Bjorn Selander (USA)

77           Ivan Rovny (Rus)

105         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)

151         Ben Hermans (Bel)