The Tour de Pologne hit the mountains today on the third stage over 161 kilometres from Jaworzno to Szczyrk. The flat opening 70 kilometres was followed by four first category climbs in the second half of the stage.
A group of seven went clear – Remi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Maciej Paterski (CCC-Polsat Sprandi), Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpecin), Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNl-Jumbo), and Adam Stachowiak (Poland) – and they gained a maximum lead of 3’30”.
With 50 kilometres remaining, BORA-hansgrohe upped the pace and reduced the lead to below two minutes as the front group reduced in size significantly.
With 37 kilometres remaining, the leaders were caught. On the final descent of the day, both Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Jack Haig (Orica-Scott) tried to go clear but both were caught as the peloton started the final climb.
Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) made a bid for the stage win but was overhauled by Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) who held on to win. UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, along with teammate Rafał Majka finished second and third which allowed Sagan retake the race lead, with Majka moving up to third in the GC.
Sagan knows there’s still a lot of racing to be done, but was happy with his performance so far. “Stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne was a tough one! I managed to stay in a good position in the first four climbs and I gave my all in the steep and hard final climb. Thanks to the squad and Rafał for their excellent work today – it feels good to be back in yellow. As I said yesterday, my form is very good, but the race is long and we will take it day by day.”
