Tour of Poland

Stage 6:  Oswiecim to Bukowina Tatrzanska, 228.5km/142km

By Cathy Mehl

A bold attack with 3km to go put  Rabobank’s Bauke Mollema in the driver’s seat on Friday’s stage 6 of the Tour of Poland.  At only 29-seconds off the time of race leader Dan Martin (Garmin), the yellow jersey had to respond alone to chase down the attack and limit his time loss to the Dutch rider.  Mollema stayed ahead and took the victory on the finish line by seven seconds, but Martin’s efforts kept him in the race lead by an eight second margin with only one stage to go.   The Shack’s Tiago Machado rode with the chasing group on the final climb, coming across the line in fifth place.  His results moved him into 11th for the classification as the best-placed Team rider.

“It was a very hard final with three laps and previous climbs at something like 15%,” said Team Director Viatsheslav Ekimov after the stage, referring to the six rated climbs on today’s course.  “Machado did well and finished 5th.  Ivan Rovny had very good legs today and attacked on the final climb but had a flat.  Impey was our third good guy today and gave it a try a few times.”

With the course rolling past the historical location of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the peloton stopped at the front of the camp gates to participate in a short ceremony and observe a minute of silence to honor the victims of the World War II Holocaust.  "Auschwitz was the theater of one of the most tragic pages in the history of mankind," said Tour of Poland director Czeslaw Lang. "With this commemoration we wanted to try and send a message of universal peace, equality, brotherhood and transnational solidarity. Those are fundamental values that are stronger than linguistic, ideological or religious barriers, and they are the basis of both sports as a whole and cycling. They are values that both sports and cycling can and must help spread worldwide." Thirty-four riders representing the number of different countries riding in the Tour of Poland plus the four jersey wearers placed white roses at the barbed wire fence surrounding the camp as a symbol to never forget the 1.1 million victims killed at the site in World War II.

Once the peloton got rolling, it was an active start to the race with many attacks coming early in the stage.  A heavy  shower dumped rain on the group in a brief storm, but once it cleared an attack of five riders went straight away in a successful escape.  Another three joined to make a solid group of eight riders who workers well together to establish a break of more than seven minutes before eventually being brought back to the main field. Included in the group was Dutch rider Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) who continued to gather points for the mountain classification, sealing that win on today’s stage.

Narrow roads, steep inclines and hard descents made for a difficult stage.  Team rider Daryl Impey tried twice to bridge to a leading group, each time gaining solid ground before finally being brought back by the main field.   An attack by Marek Rutkiewicz (Poland BGZ) required a big response from Garmin with the Polish rider sitting in 7-th overall at 30-seconds behind Martin.  His efforts and the speed of the chase caused plenty of gaps in the field.  A great number of riders were pulled temporarily to the side after being lapped, a site rarely seen in such large numbers at a race of this level.

Saturday’s Stage 7 is the closing stage for the 67-th Tour of Poland.  The peloton will roll 163.9km/102mi on a sprint stage from Nowy Targ to Karkow to bring the race to a conclusion.

Beyond the Finish Line:  The grounds and most of the buildings at the sites of the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau sites are open to visitors. Some buildings are not accessible to visitors, including the blocks reserved for the Museum administration and its departments.  In order to take in the grounds and exhibitions in a suitable way, visitors should set aside a minimum of about 90 minutes for the Auschwitz site and the same amount of time for Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It is essential to visit both parts of the camp in order to acquire a proper sense of the place that has become the symbol of the Holocaust.

Top Ten Results

1              Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank              5:54:30                   

2              Michael Albasini (Swi) Team HTC - Columbia        0:00:07  

3              Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini                     

4              Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team                       

5              Tiago Machado (Por) Team Radioshack 0:00:09  

6              Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team                               

7              Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Transitions                    

8              Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team                            

9              Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas-Doimo                     

10            Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland BGZ

General Classification after Stage 6

1              Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Transitions  26:46:50                

2              Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini    0:00:08  

3              Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank              0:00:10  

4              Michael Albasini (Swi) Team HTC - Columbia        0:00:20  

5              Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team              0:00:21  

6              Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas-Doimo    0:00:26  

7              Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team      0:00:28  

8              Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Poland BGZ         0:00:30  

9              Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini                     

10           Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Transitions    0:00:33

Brief Team RadioShack Results – more results when available

11           Tiago Machado (Por) 0:00:41