Like the day before, Laurence Pithie was unable to fight for the top positions this Friday in Katowice on the Tour de Pologne. At the end of the 187 kilometres making up the fifth stage, the young New Zealander just finished outside the top-10 (11th) in a quite hectic bunch sprint. On Saturday, the overall should be settled after a hilly final towards Bukovina Tatrzańska. Romain Grégoire still sits in 4th place.
A bunch sprint was again guaranteed this Friday on the Tour de Pologne. Stage 5 around Katowice only included one classified climb, far from the finish, and the sprinters therefore had another clear opportunity, like the day before in Prudnik. The usual scenario then unfolded, with a bunch in control behind a small breakaway of three men including Johan Jacobs, a future rider of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, Norbert Banaszek and Xabier Mikel Azparren. The trio’s lead reached five minutes and their attempt lasted until the last ten kilometres. The peloton however did not let its chance slip away, and the final sprint set up slowly and nervously. “The day went as we expected,” said Yvon Caër. “It ended with a sprint in the city, with a lot of road furniture upstream that made it a bit dangerous. We took the initiative to position quite early not to be caught behind. With three kilometers to go, a crash disrupted the peloton, and it’s miraculous that Laurence didn’t fall.”
“Romain is ambitious”, Yvon Caër
The Kiwi was able to follow the first group of around thirty men that headed towards the line, but he had to settle for eleventh in a stage won by Tim Merlier. “He missed the physical strength to finish the sprint in a better way”, explained Yvon. “He had them to position himself and be in the mix, but not enough for the final effort”. The sprinters will get another chance on Sunday in Krakow. In the meantime, stage 6 tomorrow should settle the general classification of the race. “It’s a tough finale, with a steep climb and then the uphill finish which is also difficult”, commented Yvon. “It will be a similar stage than on days 1 and 3. We will have to take good care of Romain and make sure he is in the mix. He is ambitious, he feels good, and the goal is to fight for the win tomorrow in order to finish the week in style.” The young Frenchman will not, however, be able to rely on Lewis Askey, who had to abandon this Friday after crashing on day 1 and suffering from sickness.
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