Tour of Poland *Spoilers*

frenchfighter
frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
edited August 2014 in Pro race
Surprising no one started a spoiler on this. Pretty neat race, back loaded with two hard stages then a TT. Decent field.

Yesterday's stage was won by Hutarovich. The conditions turned pretty insane at 50 odd km to go (another thread on this).

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Maciej Paterski was caught in the final km only (survivor from the break)
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Most of the favourites ended in the top group although there were a few good riders adrift. Moser and Arredondo were 6mins behind, but then Arredondo crash 4 times! Aru was a disappointing 10mins back but maybe he suffered from his two crashes. Brajkovic had to abandon due to injuries sustained in one of the numerous crashes.
Formolo, that young cracking rider from Cannondale, finished comfortably.

Stages are super long in this Tour - yesterday was 226km, today is 234km and Wednesday is 232km.

Profile for today:
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Photo: © Zymon Gruchalski / IMGstudio
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Comments

  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,881
    Surprised at the lack of top sprinters in the race given there appears to be 4 sprint stages to start.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    14.5km left of today:
    http://www.frombar.com/20140726/vv53d3b ... 56729.html

    Peter Vakoc of OPQS out front solo with 2.30.
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Vakoc hangs on and takes the win as well as the leader's jersey. Nice work.
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  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,665
    Vakoc wins by 21 seconds from a Michael Matthews led pack.

    Matthews thought he'd won, which may suggest why he still had such an advantage at the end
  • cesco
    cesco Posts: 252
    Ha, Matthews pulling a Pozzato.
  • wombly_knees
    wombly_knees Posts: 657
    Think it may have happened a couple of times before, but how are Katusha and Rusvelo in the same race?
  • ManOfKent
    ManOfKent Posts: 392
    frenchfighter wrote:

    gru_69701407096767071396100_670.jpg
    Wow, that rider looks absolutely skeletal.
  • rob churchill
    rob churchill Posts: 272
    How did Hutarovich not get DQ'd for the sprint at the end of the first stage? He went from the extreme right to almost the extreme left of the road, forcing his main rival across as he went.
    I have a policy of only posting comment on the internet under my real name. This is to moderate my natural instinct to flame your fatuous, ill-informed, irrational, credulous, bigoted, semi-literate opinions to carbon, you knuckle-dragging f***wits.
  • alanholden
    alanholden Posts: 53
    Managed to make the start in Gdansk yesterday after seeing the Giant Shimano team training whilst out on a walk and realising what they were preparing for!

    Made the weather later on seem even more shocking though since it was pushing 40degrees where we live. There was a surprisingly small crowd around many of the buses and I was shocked as to how close you could get to the riders (see below). However Majka is now considered a Polish national hero it seems, with a huge crowd around the Tinkoff Saxon bus and many chants of 'King Majka'.

    Overall it was a great experience!

    imagejpg2_zps7a44054d.jpg


    imagejpg1_zpsa5c67e0e.jpg


    imagejpg1_zps19b3047d.jpg
    Ribble R872
    Giant OCR 0T-Full Ultegra-ish
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Today:
    profile-03.jpg
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,957
    ****WARNING****- Injury photo
    Don't scroll down







































































































    BuREUMNCEAEAzLa.jpg
    Daniel Friebe ‏@friebos · 3m
    Cunego is racing on in Poland with this wound sustained in crash. pic.twitter.com/CcCwTGYoQL Way to silence anyone who says he's lost desire.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • salsiccia1
    salsiccia1 Posts: 3,725
    :shock:

    4FS, what is his DS doing letting him carry on with that
    It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    That's ridiculous, looks like he stitched it up himself Rambo style.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Wow, on his knee as well.
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    35km left:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdKUAccHZxI
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    I may not put a cheeky bet on him to win. Urgh.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    “For years he has been battling to find himself again, that Little Prince who lit up world cycling in 2004 with Giro d’Italia victory at the age of 22,” runs Gazzetta’s introduction. “Four stitches to his left knee, but Damiano has stayed in the race, suffering. In silence. Because cycling is for real, hard men. Thank you Damiano, for your example.”
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Stage 3 Results
    NED 1 BOS, Theo (BELKIN) 3:39:27
    SLO 2 MEZGEC, Luka (GIANT-SHIMANO)
    AUS 3 MATTHEWS, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE)
    ITA 4 MODOLO, Sacha (LAMPRE - MERIDA)
    NOR 5 HUSHOVD, Thor (BMC RACING)
    USA 6 FARRAR, Tyler (GARMIN SHARP)
    BLR 7 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
    BEL 8 VANGENECHTEN, Jonas (LOTTO BELISOL)
    ITA 9 APPOLLONIO, Davide (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
    ITA 10 FERRARI, Roberto (LAMPRE - MERIDA)

    03-322-PIC487071482-640.jpg

    Today's profile:
    profile-04.jpg
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  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    frenchfighter wrote:
    “For years he has been battling to find himself again, that Little Prince who lit up world cycling in 2004 with Giro d’Italia victory at the age of 22,” runs Gazzetta’s introduction. “Four stitches to his left knee, but Damiano has stayed in the race, suffering. In silence. Because cycling is for real, hard men. Thank you Damiano, for your example.”

    Remember when Cunego was number one on Braisford's shopping list
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Riders complain about the combination of very long stages and long transfers. 236 km today, after already two 226 km stages. Especially with all those local circuits the length of the stages seems a bit unnecessary. I guess Poland is a big country to cover in a week
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Stage 4 Results
    BEL 1 VANGENECHTEN, Jonas (LOTTO BELISOL) 5:43:29
    ITA 2 GUARNIERI, Jacopo (ASTANA)
    SLO 3 MEZGEC, Luka (GIANT-SHIMANO)
    ITA 4 MODOLO, Sacha (LAMPRE - MERIDA)
    BLR 5 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
    ITA 6 APPOLLONIO, Davide (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
    NED 7 KREDER, Raymond (GARMIN SHARP)
    GER 8 ARNDT, Nikias (GIANT-SHIMANO)
    BEL 9 MAES, Nikolas (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)
    AUS 10 VON HOFF, Steele (GARMIN SHARP)
    AUS 11 MATTHEWS, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE)
    RUS 12 KRITSKIY, Timofey (RUSVELO)
    RUS 13 MAIKIN, Roman (RUSVELO)
    ITA 14 GATTO, Oscar (CANNONDALE)
    DEN 15 LANDER, Sebastian (BMC RACING)
    ESP 16 LOBATO DEL VALLE, Juan Jose (MOVISTAR)
    NED 17 BOS, Theo (BELKIN)
    ITA 18 BALYKIN, Ivan (RUSVELO)
    POL 19 STEPNIAK, Grzegorz (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE)
    NOR 20 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY)

    General Classification after Stage 4
    CZE 1 VAKOC, Petr (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP) 20:34:24
    AUT 2 KRIZEK, Matthias (CANNONDALE) + 26
    BLR 3 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 27
    NED 4 BOS, Theo (BELKIN)
    SLO 5 MEZGEC, Luka (GIANT-SHIMANO)
    BEL 6 VANGENECHTEN, Jonas (LOTTO BELISOL)
    RUS 7 MAIKIN, Roman (RUSVELO) + 31
    BEL 8 VALLEE, Boris (LOTTO BELISOL) + 33
    ITA 9 MORI, Manuele (LAMPRE - MERIDA)
    POL 10 PATERSKI, Maciej (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE) + 35
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  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    What a strange race. A couple of unexpected sprint winners, many of the potential GC favourites already well behind, even though we've just had flat stages.
    PTP interest: Aru already 11 minutes down on GC
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Aru crashed twice on the first stage.
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Should be interesting tmw with a couple of average TTers needing to make up some time on Izagirre and Velits. Not a tough climb by all accounts and Arredondo up for the stage win. I've got a few quid on Formolo at 33/1 so hopefully he can do well in the hills.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    81km/h in the sprint :shock:
    Must have been some serious tailwind.
    Video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs2etlyWTM8

    tdp14st4-VanGenechten.jpg

    --

    Today is the classified mountain stage and should definitely be worth watching:
    profile-05.jpg
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    tdp14st2-DD1.jpg
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Sprint was downhill.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Meant to post this photo:
    tdp14st4katowice_80.jpg
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Edit, 50ks, Tinkoff on the front. Good quality:
    http://weeb.tv/mini-channel/tvp_sporthd
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Decent climb taken at approx 25km/h. Meier been out front solo for a while and a reduced peloton not far behind. Heano has just attacked out of it and has a small gap. Barguil attempted attacking now but didnt go far. Not raining now but is wet on the ground and the riders are wet and dirty. On screen graphics are pretty decent.
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