As expected, the sprinters finally got their chance this Thursday on the Tour de Pologne, on stage 4 towards Prudnik. After 195 kilometres of racing, the bunch sprint crowned Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) while Laurence Pithie had to settle for fourteenth place for his first opportunity of the week. He should get a second one this Friday in Katowice.
Despite a tough start, and some hills on the menu, a sprint was indeed planned this Thursday on the Tour de Pologne. After champing at the bit for three days, the sprinters were expected in Prudnik at the end of a long stage of 195 kilometres, during which the “locals” Michal Paluta, Szymon Sajnok and Kacper Gieryk led the race for a while. The latter was also the last to be caught, about fifty kilometers from the finish. In control throughout the route, the peloton nevertheless experienced a few incidents, in which the Groupama-FDJ cycling team unfortunately got caught. “We suffered a few crashes,” Yvon Caër specified. “Clément Davy first crashed fifty kilometres from the finish, and with twenty kilometres to go, Sam Watson and Fabian Lienhard also hit the deck. They were able to get back into the peloton but couldn’t get involved in the final.”
After a final hour of racing at a slow pace, the peloton really got going in the last ten kilometres, and Laurence Pithie had to manage with fewer teammates than expected. “The crashes obviously ruined the plan we had put in place a bit,” added Yvon. “When you have fewer teammates, you find yourself a bit further back, and you suffer from the various moves in the peloton. With all the lead-out men going backwards, Laurence lost speed on a slight uphill section between 800 and 500 metres. He is disappointed because he was unable to sprint as he wanted.” Around twentieth place after the last corner, the New Zealander was therefore unable to make up much ground in the final metres, having to settle for 14th place while Olav Kooij took the win. “The good news is that he seemed to have good legs,” added Yvon, as a second sprint seems certain tomorrow in Katowice. “For Romain, everything was under control,” he finally concluded. “However, there is a risk of a small fight over bonus seconds in the coming days, as we saw with Mohoric today.“
The young Frenchman remains fourth in the general classification with three days to go.
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