Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek) confirmed the huge progress he has made in 2016 by claiming his first WorldTour victory in a reduced bunch sprint on stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne. Coming off race leader Fernando Gaviria’s (Etixx-QuickStep) wheel, he held off a fast-finishing Moreno Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Luka Mezgec (Orica-BikeExchange) while Gaviria had to settle for 14th, thus retaining the lead.

 

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Niccolo Bonifazio: Finally the day of victory has come

The third time was the charm for Niccolo Bonifazio in the Tour of Poland as he bettered the first two stage's bunch finishes with his first WorldTour win, and first victory this year, in stage three Thursday.

 

After a fast start, the 240-kilometer race settled when the peloton consented to a five-man breakaway, and similar to previous stages the breakway was caught and the final kilometers were thorny, this time with a few steep hills thrown in for measure.

 

The peloton split over the narrow roads and steep climb, but regrouped ahead of the final dash to the line, and this time Bonifazio made no mistake. In the last meters, he jumped around Fernando Gaviria (Etixx-Quick Step) to take the win by a bike length.

 

"I suffered on the steep climb 25 kilometers from the finish," explained a jubilant Bonifazio. "But I followed the Etixx (Quick Step) train to get back to the bunch with Gaviria. I recovered and then in the sprint I decided to follow Gaviria's wheel. I felt good, and I was able to pass him easily with 200 meters to go. I was confident I could do well in one of the sprints this week, and today everything went perfectly.

 

"I am so happy because since the beginning of the year I was searching for a victory. I dedicate this win to my teammates, they have helped me for three stages and today I was finally able to pay them back with the victory.

 

“Today was a gruelling day. It was the longest stage, with a seriously challenging altitude difference. In truth, I like stages like this one because I manage to hang in there quite well on the climbs. When I saw that Gaviria was still there in the lead group I decided to stick to his wheel to move on him in the final sprint. I earned this victory but so did the entire team, which worked incredibly hard to keep me ahead. I’d especially like to thank Fabio Felline. This year I’ve come close to success on several occasions but now finally the day of victory has come.”

 

Fabio Felline, in his first stage race back from injury, did what he could for Bonifazio, but in the end, Bonifazio, under his own power and savvy, freelanced his way to the win.

 

"I couldn't do everything I wanted for Niccolo because I had cramps. This is my first big race back, and when it went fast, I paid for it. When I finally made it to the front, he was on the other side, and I had no chance to get close.

 

"I wished I could have helped Niccolo more, but I guess I didn't need to today! Huge respect to Niccolo because he positioned himself already in a good position. Fantastic work for him to do this solo!"

 

"We knew that today that it could most likely come to a sprint again, "added director Dirk Demol. "It was a fast start again until five riders went away. Then all day it was a steady tempo until we came into the final, where in the last 30kms there were steep climbs and narrow roads. The peloton split into several parts and in the first 60-70 riders we only had Niccolo and Fabio (Felline).

 

"It was a bit hectic because there was a crash and the team cars were caught behind. In the end, a group came back with Fumy (Beppu) and it was again a large peloton. Today we decided to just bring Niccolo in position to Ewan or Gaviria for the last kilometer and a half because we do not have the power here for a train. Fabio did what he could; he did a great job. We are super happy because we came here with the intention to win a stage and we have reached our goal after two days. That's super nice."

 

LottoNL-Jumbo: Moreno Hofland was the fastest

Moreno Hofland sprinted to second place in the third stage of the Tour de Pologne today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter lost only to Niccolo Bonefazio (Trek - Segafredo), but grabbed the lead in the points classification.

 

The final sprint in the third stage of the Tour de Pologne was another chaotic one.

 

“With 1.5 kilometre to go, there was a turn of 180 degrees,” Moreno Hofland said. “Dennis van Winden and Tom Leezer brought me in position at that point. I knew that I wasn’t going to get space on the sides of the road. I was in the middle, stayed calm and when I saw a gap, I went for it. I had enough power to come from far back, but I started the sprint from a little bit too far behind, eventually. I’m fed up with that.”

 

Sports Director Addy Engels shared the feeling that more should have been possible.

 

“At that sharp turn, he was still in a good position, but Moreno lost some positions afterwards,” Engels said. “He delivered the fastest sprint, but didn’t win. That bothers me. It’s good to see how fast he is, on the other hand. He’s coming closer.”

 

Hofland might get another chance on Friday in a stage that is quite comparable with the third one.

 

“It’s quite hilly, but the final part of the race is flat,” Engels concluded. “If the climbers want it, they might be able to drop the sprinters, but it might end up in another bunch kick as well.”

 

Luka Mezgec takes over from Caleb Ewan in Poland

ORICA-BikeExchanged finished today's stage three of the Tour of Poland in third place after contesting the sprint with Slovenian rider Luka Mezgec.

 

The team had multiple cards to play going in to the long 240kilometres stage, executing one of their few different options in the finish to conclude the day in third place for the third consecutive day.

 

"We had a plan A, to get Caleb Ewan to the finish and to work for him in the sprint," explained sport director Dave McPartland. "Then plan B, was to sprint for Luka if Caleb happened to be dropped after the climbs, and our plan C was to put Sam Bewley or Jens Keukeleire in the break if one went.

 

"The boys were awesome at the start of the race, a large break of riders went early on and we had both Sam and Jens in there as planned. That was good for us as two or three teams had to chase hard to bring it back.

 

"Out of that original group, another 11 riders went away and Jens also made it into that. This was all within the first 40kilometres, so it was a very hard start to the stage.

 

"Eventually a different small group of riders went up the road for most of the race and we were happy about that situation, as we were able to sit back and relax a bit in the bunch.

 

"Once we came onto the final circuits, a steep climb each lap caused the bunch to split into two big groups. Caleb was dropped on the final time up the climb, but due to great work from Svein Tuft and Sam, he was able to get back to the front of with just eight kilometres to go." 

 

The team showed cohesion and commitment to one plan to make the decision to work for Mezgec in the finale, despite Ewan making it back to the front and into contention with several kilometres to go. 

 

"By the time Caleb got back on we had already decided to stick to the plan and sprint with Luka, which we had discussed before the stage," continued McPartland. "Everybody was clear on that, and it was a good opportunity for Luka, he's shown us he's in good condition at the moment.

 

"Luka is normally a lead-out guy, so we are pretty happy with his result. He said he wasn't quite aggressive enough and got a bit pushed out of the line, so at that moment had to just open up his sprint.

 

"It's a shame that we keep getting third places after all the hard work from the team and we have shown we are in good enough shape as it's been very close each stage.

 

"A lot of teams had to ride on the front today, so there will certainly be tired legs going into tomorrow's stage which isn't too dissimilar to today. We will give it another go tomorrow and hopefully end this string of thirds."

 

Heinrich Haussler ready for autumn classics with great performances in Poland

Heinrich Haussler grabbed another place in the top-10 today by sprinting to fourth place. 

 

“I am very happy with my two results from yesterday (7th) and today (4th).  After the Giro, I took a break and then I started to build up the form again.  With this in mind, I recently took part in an altitude training camp where I focused on making longer efforts.  So I’m pretty surprised that things are already going so well and I’m taking these high placings.”

 

“It would be nice if the stage ends in a sprint again tomorrow, and I can try something again,” Heinrich Haussler explained.  “Of course, having said that, I would like to take it slow, since the Tour of Poland is not my main goal.  After this race, I will be doing another training camp at altitude in Utah, and then do the race there.  My big goals in the second half of the season are the one-day races in Hamburg, Quebec, and Plouay.”

 

Eddy Seigneur, IAM Cycling’s directeur sportif, said:

 

“The stage today was very long, and so a breakaway was certain to get some time.  We were not represented in the break, but the pack controlled the race.  In the final, we tried to launch Heinrich Haussler for the sprint.  Roger Kluge put in a great effort, and Haussler was ideally positioned.  After his seventh place yesterday, Haussler managed to net a fourth place today, which is a great result, and it moves him up into the top-10 of the general classification.”

 

Aleksejs Saramotins was caught up in a mass crash, and had to be taken to the hospital for a thorough evaluation.  The doctors finally diagnosed a heavy bruise on the left side of his chest. Marcel Aregger was also caught up in this crash, but he was able to continue the race without any major ill-effects.

 

Strong Kristian Sbaragli bounces back from late crash in Poland

The long distance didn’t stop riders from attacking early on and Adrien Niyonshuti was again part of the action, jumping into a 20 rider breakaway. The peloton weren’t all that pleased to have such a large group out front so they kept the pace high until the cooperation disintegrated up front and they were reeled back in.

 

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were happy with the final break as Kristian Sbaragli has showed he has some good sprinting form at the moment. Unfortunately it was not plain sailing for the African Team as Sbaragli and Youcef Reguigui crashed with 60km to go. It was quite a fall Sbaragli took but the Italian was able to bounce back and make it into the front group in time for the finale.

 

With the breakaway caught at 10km to go, it was again Etixx-Quickstep and Orica-BikeExchange leading out the sprint finish. With a big hole in his shoe, Sbaragli was able to freelance off the LottoNL-Jumbo train to come around the outside of the peloton and take a good 6th place on the stage.

 

Sports director Jens Zemke said:
 

“Stage 3 was a pretty tough stage at 240km plus the 10km that were neutralised. There was some very strong wind of around 6/7 meters per second particularly at the start, it made it super hard. Adrien was again in a big breakaway but some teams were not represented in the move so they brought that attack back.

 

”iders then made a new attack and the situation was more controlled. Our boys stayed safe in the bunch until the final 60km where there was a lot of action. We had Kristian and Youcef involved in a crash and at this point in the race it was really fast.

 

”After the 3 climbs we made it into the front group with 3 guys and Kristian sprinted to 6th place. It was another top 10 against a number of strong sprinters so chapeau and well done to the team.

 

Ruslan Tleubayev gets his chance to sprint in Poland

"I lacked a bit of power in the last meters but I have to be happy with my result,” said Ruslan Tleubayev.

 

The young Kazakh sprinter finished seventh in the sprint won by the Italian Nicolò Bonifacio. "I'm taking confidence from the speed and it's a nice feeling!"

 

"The guys rode well in a very difficult stage. Kozhatayev fell again, but nothing serious,” commented sport director Alexander Shefer.

 

BMC and Philippe Gilbert eye the weekend at the Tour de Pologne

After a mighty 240 kilometers of racing, Tour of Poland Stage 3 came down to a bunch sprint for the line which saw Loïc Vleigen finish in eight place behind stage winner, Niccolò Bonifazio (Trek - Segafredo).

 

On the General Classification, there was a reshuffling of positions for BMC Racing Team riders with Floris Gerts moving into tenth place just ahead of Philippe Gilbert in eleventh. Both riders sit 16 seconds behind race leader Fernando Gaviria.

 

Sports Director Max Sciandri said: “For us it is really about getting to Saturday and Sunday without losing to much time and that’s where we see the race really starting to take shape so for us a sprint was great as it meant we could be up there and not lose time.

 

“We did look out for breaks early on with [Alessandro] De Marchi involved with the first big move and then he was joined by [Danilo] Wyss in the second one. Then, at the end after the last climb and circuit, our two younger riders were given free pass to get involved in the sprint and it was good to see Loïc get a top ten finish.”

 

Loïc Vleigen said: "I had really good legs today and my condition is getting better day by day. I was always in a good position on the hardest climb with the team. and we had to really work hard at the end to catch the five-rider breakaway. I took my chance in the sprint even if the finish [descent] wasn't really for me. I am definitely feeling confident in both myself and the team for the next hilly days."

 

Koen De Kort gets rare chance to sprint in Poland

In the sprint, Koen de Kort was amongst the front placings and he opened up his finishing effort in the final 200m. Tracking those in front of him, he held his own and he finished 10th on the line, with the win going to Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek- Segafredo).

 

Koen de Kort said: “I was unsure how my legs would be today as it was the first long and hilly day after my short holiday. In the hilly section, I could stay in a good position and managed to be in the first group. Tobias [Ludvigsson] and Johannes [Fröhlinger] were there with me and especially Tobias did a great job in protecting me and dropping me off in the front before the last u-turn 1500m to go. I still had some good legs but had to fight to get out and finished 10th. It was nice to be able to sprint again and test my legs.”

 

Morten Bennekou added: “It was a hard and very long stage in a hilly area. The plan was to go for breakaways and in the end see if Nikias [Arndt] could survive all the day for the sprint. That was unfortunately not possible.

 

“In the finale, we had three riders in the decimated peloton. Johannes and not least Tobias then did a really good job to set up Koen for the sprint. I think it was a good performance from those guys in the finale and it also good preparation for the upcoming races.”

 

VERVA-ActiveJet take two jerseys in Poland

VERVA ActiveJet Team have two jersey. The most active rider jersey remained on the shoulders of Jonas Koch, and Kamil Gradek took the mountains jersey. 

 

Gradek was in the break, won the intermediate sprint, the first KOM sprint and was third in the second KOM sprint

 

Łukasz Bodnar, Jonas Koch and Karel Hnik had to change bike after a crash. The chase of the peloton cost them a lot of energy. Additionally, Karel Hnik got a flat tire and again had to wait for a car.

 

Hnik finally managed to get back to the main group, although the pursuit lasted for many kilometers.

 

In the finale, Jordi Simon and Adam Stachowiak attacked.

 

“It was an amazing day. On the one hand, we had a lot of bad luck. Accidents, broken bikes and bruised riders. On the other hand, it was a great ride by Gradek, we lead two classifications and Hnik completed a crazy chase successfully. In the end, Simon and Stachowiak were visible. I am very happy with the current attitude of the riders. Keep it up,” said Piotr Kosmala, sports director of Team VERVA ActiveJet. 

 

ONE Pro Cycling close to the top 10 in Poland

As the race approached the first official KOM point, they were pushed along with a strong trail wind and riders began to jockey for position. The battle for space on the road caused a large crash with around 25 riders coming down including Karol Domagalski, Peter Williams and James Oram from ONE. Remounting their bikes battered and bruised, they began the chase through the convoy to get back to the race.

 

Into the back part of the race and with some steep climbs to come the pressure really piled on at the front, cresting the final KOM a large group including ONE Pro Cycling’s GC contenders were all in the front as they headed onto the finishing laps.

 

With one lap to go the call was made that Oram and Domagalski would ride for Dion Smith and try to position him for the line. As the sprint opened up Smith came off the wheel of Domagalski however was a little bit far back and as he surged up through the peloton, crossed the line in 13th place with teammate Karol Domagalski close behind in 18th.

 

Fernando Gaviria: I was too much in the wind.

Already winner of a Tour de Pologne stage, Fernando Gaviria arrived at the finish line in the top 15, in the same time as the first three, and continues to hold on to his yellow jersey, a strong feat considering that earlier on the day he crashed in a massive pile-up, which took down more than 40 riders.

 

Gaviria – one of the most successful neo-pros of the season – has six seconds on Bonifazio and 8 on Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge), who is sitting in third place. On Friday, the Colombian will have another chance to get in the mix for the win, providing that stage 4 (Nowy Sacz – Rzeszow, 218 kilometers), which counts five second-category climbs, will end up in another bunch sprint.

 

“It was a difficult stage and I’m glad I managed to hang on to the yellow jersey," declared Gaviria. "If I was successful in doing so I have to thank all my team mates for the fantastic job they did. The distance and altitude change were really challenging today, plus, I got stuck in a pileup and the final was a continuous succession of breaks and attacks. It’s too bad because we managed to make it to the final sprint but unfortunately today things didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped. I ended up exposed too soon and I couldn’t block Bonifazio’s comeback. Now we can expect some very challenging days ahead, but for now we’re enjoying one more day in the yellow jersey.”

 

Michal Kwiatkowski stays safe, Nicolas Roche on the attack

Michal Kwiatkowski finished safely after a late scare on stage three of the Tour of Poland to remain well positioned overall.

 

Kwiatkowski was well up there as the bunch sprint unfolded in Nowy Sacz but had to swerve to avoid an almost certain crash as he looked to get in the mix.

 

The Pole stayed upright to roll home 19th and remain ninth overall, 16 seconds back on race leader Fernando Gaviria (Etixx - Quick-Step) while Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) won the sprint to the line.

 

At 240 kilometres stage three was the longest of the race and with two nasty late climbs it looked like it might be very selective.

 

And when Nicolas Roche attacked on the brutally steep Kunow 27km from the finish and forged a gap on the peloton, it looked like a select band of riders would indeed do battle for the win.

 

But the climb wasn't quite long enough for the peloton to be completely distanced and, along with his four fellow escapees, Roche was brought back with 16km remaining.

 

The sprinters' teams took control on the 7.3km finishing circuit and Bonifazio took a comfortable victory, while Kwiatkowski and Leopold Konig claimed the same time to stay 16 seconds back on the lead ahead of a similarly tough stage four.

 

Katusha expected a harder stage in Poland

It was a third day for a sprint finish at the Tour of Poland on Thursday’s stage 3. It was a stage Team KATUSHA expected to be more for the overall contenders, but the scene played out differently at the finish in Nowy Sącz.

 

“We thought the stage would be harder. At least on paper the climbs were much more difficult. In reality it was not like this. Only the last one was a hard one, so it was not possible to make any difference there. We protected our leaders and tried to pass this stage without problems. Unfortunately, we had two riders who crashed today, Jhonatan Restrepo and Dmitriy Kozonchuk. Both were able to continue the race, but Dmitriy feels pain in the shoulder. He finished the race, but now we have sent him to the hospital. We are waiting for the results,” said team director Claudio Cozzi.

 

”There was a big crash with many riders involved. I crashed too. I was able to come back on my bike, but immediately I felt something wrong with my left shoulder. It was hard for me to hold the handlebars, but I decided to continue and to finish this stage. We will go to the hospital and I am really hoping for good news, because I don't want to leave the race and my team here at the Tour de Pologne,” said team rider Dimitriy Kozonchuk.

 

Ruben Fernandez on the attack in Polish hills

The first mountains in the Tour de Pologne were seen during the monstruous 240km journey between Zawiercie and Nowy Sącz, where Rubén Fernández showed good legs on the Cat-2 climb of Kunów, last ascent of the day at 24km from the finishing line. The man from Murcia profited from a move from Nicholas Roche (SKY) over the summit to search for the KOM points against the Irishman and local hero Maciej Paterski (CCC), before taking on the final, flat circuits. On the first of three urban laps, the trio became a quintet as counter attacks followed the Spanish climber, yet the bunch determined to finish with a bunch sprint, caught them with 15km to go.

 

His team-mates, always trying to keep the front and avoid the crashes - one of them even involving yellow jersey Fernando Gaviria (EQS) - rolled together towards the finish, where Niccolò Bonifazio (TFS) profited from an early launch by Gaviria. The Movistar squad directed by José Luis Jaimerena and José Luis Laguía will have another long trek to tackle tomorrow, 218km between Nowy Sącz and Rzeszów/Podkarpackie, with five small ascents -four rated Cat-2, one Cat-1 - as prelude of the weekend's grueling racing in the Tatr mountains.

 

Another day to stay safe for Tinkoff in Poland

Once again in Poland, the third stage of the race finished in a group sprint, but unlike the previous days there was much more action with the Tinkoff riders staying at the heart of the racing. In the reduced bunch sprint, Juraj Sagan led the team home in 30th place, with GC hopeful Jesper Hansen just behind in 32nd.

 

The stage was the longest of the race at 240km, 250 if you include the 10km neutralised, and the early stages sent out a warning of the action that is to come in the race, as Sport Director Jan Valach explained.

 

“It was a long rolling stage today, our aim was, like yesterday, to go into the break if it was a big group and we had Pavel Brutt and Evgeny Petrov ready for this. After a fast start there was a first break of around 20 riders with Daniele Bennati, Pavel and Sergio Paulinho there which was a good situation for us but this was brought back and five riders went clear.”

 The five riders that moved clear went on to spend the majority of the race at the front, only being caught in the closing 15km on the day’s finishing circuits. Behind the break, the Tinkoff jerseys were again focused on looking after Jesper Hansen as he sets up for the coming days in the hills where the GC fight will unfold. The team came into the finish circuits in a good position and ready for a final test before the finish.

 

“We waited for the final circuit which was very technical, on small roads with two steep climbs," Valach continued. "The guys stayed at the front with Jesper to help him and in the end they came into the finish in the front group where there was another sprint. Again there’s no result on the stage but it was a good job by the team today and they showed they’re ready for the tough days to come.”

 

Novo Nordisk captain still in contention in Poland

With 70 kilometers remaining, a large crash took down two Team Novo Nordisk riders: Martijn Verschoor and David Lozano. Both were able to continue and made it back to the bunch. All remaining escapees were caught on the finishing laps around Nowy Sacz with Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) taking the win from a bunch sprint. Team Novo Nordisk’s Javier Megias finished in the front group with the same time as Bonifazio.

 

“It was a rough stage. It was a long stage and we started with strong winds and rain. The roughest part was having the riders involved in the crash. Luckily, they made it back to the group and nothing too serious,” Team Novo Nordisk Senior Vice President of Athletics & GM Vassili Davidenko said. “It is very hard to see your guys down but they are both okay.” 

 

“Javier did an amazing job and he stayed in the front group all the way to the end,” Davidenko said. “The guys did a great job protecting him throughout the day. It was a very long day, but I think it was a good day overall, especially with Javier finishing in the front group. This is our goal, so everything is still going according to plan.”