It was the predicted sprint in Monday’s stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne, although a huge crash just before the finish line sent sprawling in all directions, leaving only a handful of riders in the hunt for the win. Team Katusha’s Maxim Belkov was involved in the accident and went to the hospital for evaluation.

"It was another flat sprint stage. We tried to keep our leaders in front on the local laps just to avoid any problems. We did that and the team worked very well to achieve this. Unfortunately in the big crash on the finish, Maxim Belkow was involved. It was a bad crash and he is now in the hospital. We are waiting for more news about his condition," said sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

The team has later announced that no fractures were found. He has some wounds and a small muscle fracture. He's got 25 stitches.

The reduced sprint was won by Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) ahead of Marcel Kittel of Giant-Alpecin and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing). Kittel retained the race lead by 10-seconds to Caleb Ewan of Orica GreenEdge.

Stage 2 traveled from Czestochowa to Dabrowa Górnicza at 146 km. An early 5-man break was given a two minute gap but carefully watched by the teams of the sprinters. On the local circuits they were brought back with two laps to go, leaving the end of the race in the control of the sprinters. With the crash blocking the very narrow roadway, many riders were held up before finally rolling across the finish line, all on the same time as the winning time of 3:20.12

Tuesday brings the third stage at 166 km from Zawiercie to Katowice and looks to be another day for the sprinters.