Cycling: Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) has returned to the racing circuit - and how! The world champion snapped at his in the first race Exclusion from the Tour de France another win straight away. On the first stage of the Tour de Pologne he sprinted ahead of Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) and Danny van Poppel (Sky).
Peter Sagan with a new hairstyle and old strength
Before the start of the Tour de Pologne, the fans didn't look bad. Her darling Peter Sagan was at the start with his hair freshly shaved. Even without his long mane, the world champion shaved the competition today. Around the city of Kraków, 137 kilometers had to be covered today at the start of the Tour of Poland. The only slightly bumpy course should accommodate the sprinters. Nevertheless, four riders broke away from the peloton right after the start: Maciej Paterski (CCC-Sprandi), Martijn Keizer (LottoNL-Jumbo), Pawel Bernas (National Team Poland) and Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk). However, the Orica-Scott and Bora-hansgrohe teams didn't leave them too far behind. They assumed - which ultimately turned out to be correct - that they would have the best sprinters in their ranks at the end of the day.
Max Walscheid had no chance today – eleventh place
In the ratings, the fans were able to watch a fight between Keizer and Paterski. Both drivers finally pulled away with a narrow lead shortly before the finish. But they too should be caught by the approaching peloton. At least Keizer can be happy about the mountain jersey, which the Dutchman can take for a walk tomorrow. In the fight for the stage win, he was of course no longer able to intervene after being caught. The last few meters of the final circuit were quite curvy, which is why some drivers tried to break away. But now that the German team Sunweb also intervened for Max Walscheid, nobody was able to pull away decisively. It came to the expected mass sprint. This was opened by Peter Sagan, who no longer let anyone past. Second was little Caleb Ewan ahead of Danny van Poppel. Max Walscheid did not get past eleventh place.
Tour de Pologne stage #1 result
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Peter Sagan | Slovakia | Bora, hansgrohe | 2:56:16 |
| 2. | Caleb ewan | Australia | Orica Scott | st |
| 3. | Danny Van Poppel | Netherlands | Sky | st |
| 4. | Riccardo Minali | Italy | Astana | st |
| 5. | Niccolo Boniface | Italy | Bahrain Merida | st |
| 6. | Nathan Hass | Australia | Dimension Data | st |
| 7. | Robert Ferrari | Italy | UAE | st |
| 8. | Pavel Franczak | Poland | National team Poland | st |
| 9. | Boy Van Poppel | Netherlands | Trek-Segafredo | st |
| 10. | Jens Debusschere | Belgium | Lotto Soudal | st |