Poland

Tour de Pologne

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David Lozano

Andrea Peron

Charles Planet

29 Jul - 4 Aug 2017

TEAM Pro Team

CITY Various

STAGES 7

TEAM Pro Team CITY Various STAGES 7

Stage 1

Gallery

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 1

Start/Finish: Krakow / Krakow, Poland

Distance: 130 kilometers

KRACOW, POLAND – Team Novo Nordisk began the second half of the 2017 season in the spotlight on Saturday, with Charles Planet attacking early in the first stage at the Tour de Pologne to ride in a 4-man breakaway through rolling hillsides and tens of thousands of roadside fans.

Planet and his breakaway companions had as much as three minutes ahead of the peloton in Poland, and kept a fast pace over most of the 130km course. Saturday’s escape marked Planet’s third appearance in a World Tour stage race breakaway in 2017.

With no individual time trial this year, the Tour de Pologne is a wide open race, with hills and sprints on some days and hard mountains on others. On Saturday the sprinters’ teams came to the front to close down the breakaway, catching Planet and his fellow travelers before three laps of a 4km finishing circuit in Krakow. World Champion Peter Sagan won the group sprint and assumes race leadership ahead of Sunday’s stage two.

Charles Planet:

“It was a really hard day today, really fast. We knew it was a sprinter’s stage, so our plan was to go in the breakaway from the gun and try to stay out in front. This is a World Tour race and the visibility here is so high, everyone is here for a good result.”

Team Novo Nordisk Director Sportif Massimo Podenzana:

“Our objective at the beginning of the stage was to get somebody in the breakaway. It’s early and there is no leader, and the teams will watch each other and wait because there is no time trial this year. Charles was very strong today in the breakaway, but in the end the sprinters were stronger.”

Gallery:

Results:

Peter Sagan 1^st: (BORA-Hansgrohe) : 2:56:16
Caleb Ewan 2^nd: (ORICA-Scott) : st
Danny Van Poppel 3^rd: (Team Sky) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

David Lozano : 79^th: st
Javier Megias : 93^rd: st
Joonas Henttala : 95^th: st
Andrea Peron : 101^st: st
Martijn Verschoor : 126^th: st
Chris Williams : 140^th : 2:25 back
Charles Planet : 148^th : 5:23 back

(Photos: ©TDWSport)

Tour de Pologne - Stage 1

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 1

Start/Finish: Krakow / Krakow, Poland

Distance: 130 kilometers

Charles Planet:

Team Novo Nordisk Director Sportif Massimo Podenzana:

Gallery:

Results:

Peter Sagan 1^st: (BORA-Hansgrohe) : 2:56:16
Caleb Ewan 2^nd: (ORICA-Scott) : st
Danny Van Poppel 3^rd: (Team Sky) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

David Lozano : 79^th: st
Javier Megias : 93^rd: st
Joonas Henttala : 95^th: st
Andrea Peron : 101^st: st
Martijn Verschoor : 126^th: st
Chris Williams : 140^th : 2:25 back
Charles Planet : 148^th : 5:23 back

(Photos: ©TDWSport)

Stage 2

Tour de Pologne - Stage 2

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 2 A

Start/Finish: Tarnowskie Gory/Katowice, Poland

Distance: 142 kilometers

KATOWICE, POLAND – Joonas Henttala attacked at the start of the Tour de Pologne’s second stage on Sunday, riding clear to a three-minute advantage with three other riders before a baffling tactical move set the breakaway on a course for collapse.

Under sunny skies and in front of tens of thousands of roadside fans, stage two began with a short parade lap and then a longer circuit through and around Tarnowskie Gory. A Dutch rider leading the Mountain Points classification and two Polish riders from two different teams joined Henttala for the breakaway.

With more than 50km to the finish, one Polish rider attacked the breakaway solo and quickly took nearly a minute on Henttala and the other two. With no more Mountain Points on offer for the Dutch rider, and a fellow countryman up the road for the Polish rider, Henttala found himself the only athlete at the front with any reason to chase.

Henttala went solo in pursuit of the leader, and chased for nearly 20 minutes, but the entire peloton caught all of the breakaway riders, including the Polish national team rider alone off the front.

On a three-lap circuit in Katowice the sprinters’ teams took over, with Italian Sacha Modolo finishing ahead of Danny Van Poppel of the Netherlands and Max Warscheid of Germany in a group sprint. Van Poppel takes over the leader’s yellow jersey ahead of stage three.

Joonas Henttala:

“I made the first move at the start, and two Polish guys and one Dutch guy followed me. We worked well the first hour or so, but then one of the Polish guys attacked before the first sprint, and after that the other Polish guy didn’t want to work any more, so it was just me and the Dutch guy. From then on you could tell the breakaway was done.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“Joonas was very strong today and we achieved our goal to get in the breakaway. It’s too bad the breakaway fell apart so early, but nonetheless we did good and we have some more motivation to succeed in the next stages.”

Gallery:

Results:

Sacha Modolo 1^st: (UAE Team Emirates) : 3:15:21
Danny Van Poppel 2^nd: (Team Sky) : st
Max Walscheid 3^rd: (Team Sunweb) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

Charles Planet : 25^th : st
Javier Megias : 78^th: st
David Lozano :114^th: 0:30 back
Joonas Henttala : 119^th: 1:02 back
Martijn Verschoor : 128^th: 1:41 back
Chris Williams : 142^nd : 2:57 back
Andrea Peron : 151^st: 8:44 back

(Photos: ©TDWSport)

Stage 3

Tour de Pologne - Stage 3

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 3

Start/Finish: Jaworzno/Szczyrk, Poland

Distance: 161 kilometers

SZCZYRK, POLAND – David Lozano found himself at the front of the bike race on Monday as stage three of the Tour de Pologne stretched across a hot and sunny southern Poland on the last day of July.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving fans lined the roads for a unusually late start, cheering as the peloton left Jaworno, pronounced Ya-vozhno, at 3pm, with temperatures around 32C/90F. A breakaway of seven riders formed after nearly 20 minutes of hectic and combative attacks, but Team Novo Nordisk missed the move and quickly began to shuttle back with dozens of other riders to the following team cars to retrieve water, ice and food for the hard road ahead.

After two hours of racing the peloton entered the Beskid Mountains, a forested tourist resort area where the Polish President’s summer residence is located. Again, thousands of fans lined the surrounding roads to watch the riders climb past the government properties and down back into the village for three circuits and a finish in Szczyrk (pronounced Sh-cherk).

In the end Lozano and teammate Javier Megias rode themselves into the quickly shrinking group of around 50 elite climbers at the front, who caught and passed the breakaway before attacking each other on the final climb and over the last 10km downhill to the finish.

Dutch rider Dylan Teuns won ahead of nearby Slovakia’s Peter Sagan, who moves back into the leader’s yellow jersey for Tuesday’s 238km stage four.

David Lozano:

“We wanted to be in the best position possible all day, and save as much of Javi’s energy as we could. On the last climb Katusha started pulling really, really hard, and we did the best we could to stay with them. There’s still four stages left, and I prefer to race in the heat like this over the cold and wet.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“Today was a day for the General Classification, and tomorrow is a very long stage. Our guys missed the breakaway today but tomorrow will be another chance. It’s important to drink and eat on days like this and to recover as much as possible in between the stages.”

Gallery:

Results:

Dylan Teuns 1^st: (BMC Racing Team) : 3:51:41
Peter Sagan 2^nd: (BORA – Hansgrohe) : st
Rafal Majka 3^rd: (BORA – Hansgrohe) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

David Lozano :48^th: 3:48 back
Javier Megias : 49^th: 3:48 back
Charles Planet : 109^th : 14:04 back
Chris Williams : 130^th : 23:51 back
Andrea Peron : 31^st: 23:51 back
Joonas Henttala : 132^nd: 23:51 back
Martijn Verschoor : 140^th: 23:51 back

(Photos: ©TDWSport)

Stage 4

Tour de Pologne - Stage 4

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 4

Start/Finish: Zawiercie/Zabrze, Poland

Distance: 238km

ZABRZE, POLAND – Chris Williams stuffed panty hose filled with ice cubes down the back of his Team Novo Nordisk jersey to beat the heat on Tuesday as stage four of the Tour de Pologne spent more than five and a half hours racing through towns and villages in southern Poland.

An early breakaway of six riders assumed responsibility for the race lead out of Zawiercie, pronounced Za-ver-che, and kept as much as seven minutes ahead of the peloton on the way to the finish in in Zabrze (pronounced Zab-zhe).

As temperatures rose to 37ºC/99ºF on the road, Williams and his teammates, along with most of the professional peloton, shuttled back and forth over the hours to reload with bottles of water, Nuun rehydration drinks and sacks of ice.

Soigneurs prepared the bottles and the ice ahead of time, and filled coolers with hundreds of bottles and the clipped and knotted portions of panty hose to replenish and cool the riders. On Tuesday Team Novo Nordisk handed out almost 200 bottles and more than 40 ice sacks to the riders.

In Zabrze the peloton caught the breakaway, and Caleb Ewan of Australia won a group sprint ahead of Danny Van Poppel of the Netherlands. World Champion Peter Sagan remains race leader for Wednesday’s stage five.

Chris Williams:

“Today was probably just as tough mentally as it was physically. 34-36 degrees all day, so we were going back to the car and getting little bags of ice and stuffing them down the backs of our jerseys just to try and stay cool.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“The heat today was a very big factor for everybody, and for the body to stay cool during the race we did everything we could to keep ice and drinks cold and ready for the riders.”

Gallery:

Results:

Caleb Ewan 1^st: (ORICA-Scott) : 5:38:49
Danny Van Poppel 2^nd: (Team Sky) : st
Peter Sagan 3^rd: (BORA – Hansgrohe) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

Charles Planet : 67^th : st
Joonas Henttala : 81^st: st
Javier Megias : 82^nd: st
Martijn Verschoor : 89^th: st
David Lozano :91^st: st
Andrea Peron : 131^st: 1:40 back
Chris Williams : 132^nd : 1:40 back

(Photo: ©TDWSport)

Stage 5

Tour de Pologne - Stage 5

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 5

Start/Finish: Olimp Nagawczyna/Rzeszow, Poland

Distance: 130 kilometers

RZESZOW, POLAND – Andrea Peron slipped in the rain with 30km to go on Wednesday, crashing into a short traffic barrier at more than 40km per hour on stage five of the Tour de Pologne.

Peron escaped with only minor injuries, and is clear to start Thursday’s stage six, but the heavy rain that fell near the end of the shortest stage of the 2017 Tour de Pologne sent many riders in the peloton into far worse crashes than the Team Novo Nordisk rider as the summer roads turned slippery.

Six riders jumped into a breakaway almost immediately after a hot and sunny start from the front gates of an expansive and modern Polish business headquarters at Olimp Nagawczyna (pronounced Na-gaf-she-na). Chasing teams gave little freedom to the escapees, who never went much further than 2:30 ahead of the peloton on the constantly rolling course.

The hot, muggy weather broke around 30km to the finish in Rzeszow, pronounced Zhesh-ov, as the peloton sped up to catch the breakaway on the finishing circuits across the Wislok river.

Peron slipped on a slight downhill curve and injured his right hand, which team medical staff treated immediately following the race. The peloton caught the break but minutes later most of the chasers were held up in a series of crashes at the finish, as Dutch rider Danny Van Poppel sprinted ahead of Slovenian Luka Mezgec to take the stage win. Overall race leader Peter Sagan held onto his yellow jersey with third on Wednesday’s podium.

Andrea Peron:

“The temperature at the beginning was really hot, I think 36ºC/97ºF. The problem is you can’t breathe easy because there was no wind and nothing moving. At about 30k to the finish it started raining, which was actually good because at least we could breathe again.”

Team Novo Nordisk Director Sportif Massimo Podenzana:

“When it hasn’t rained in a long time, the first heavy rain always loosens the oils and dirt that are on the asphalt. Andrea slipped but he didn’t fall, and he’s ok to start tomorrow.”

Results:

Danny Van Poppel 1^st: (Team Sky) : 2:59:44
Luka Mezgec 2^nd: (ORICA-Scott) : st
Peter Sagan 3^rd: (BORA – Hansgrohe) : st

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

Charles Planet : 59^th : 1:29 back
David Lozano :63^rd: 1:30 back
Javier Megias : 112^th: 8:58 back
Joonas Henttala : 122^rd: 12:27 back
Chris Williams : 135^nd : 17:50 back
Andrea Peron : 143^st: 18:50 back
Martijn Verschoor : 144^th: 18:50 back

Stage 6

Tour de Pologne - Stage 6

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 6

Start/Finish: Wieliczka/Zakopane, Poland

Distance: 189 kilometers

ZAKOPANE, POLAND – David Lozano dug in and fought to the finish of a hilly stage six at the Tour de Pologne on Thursday, passing most of the peloton and at least one pony on the road.

Andrea Peron’s hand injury worsened overnight, and the Italian rider was forced to abandon the race as he was unable to grasp his handlebars at Thursday’s start in Wieliczka (pronounced Veel-itch-ka) a Polish town famous for its deep and productive salt mines.

A pet pony broke its leash as the peloton passed through the village of Czarnym Dunajcu (pronounced Char-neem Dune-ah-chew). The small animal ran inside the peloton for several hundred meters before being guided off the course by one of the cyclists.

Martijn Verschoor withdrew from competition soon after the race entered the steep hill section around southern Poland’s mountain resort complex, while at the front of the race the teams vying for General Classification quickly whittled the front peloton down to around 50 riders for one large and two smaller laps before the finish in Zakopane (pronounced Zako-pana).

With less than 20km to go, Lozano was among the world’s best cyclists at the end of a hot, hard four hours of racing. The Spaniard detached and rode his top pace with a group of climbers in front of tens of thousands of cycling fans.

Australian rider Jack Haig won ahead of Wout Poels of the Netherlands and Bob Jungels of Luxembourg.

David Lozano:

“Bahrain made a good, hard selection when we got to the circuits, and it was just me and Javi. I’m really happy because last year I couldn’t follow on this stage, but today I was up there until the last climb. Tomorrow is going to be a short stage with a lot of fireworks. It will be important to do a good warm up and start in a good position.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“Peron could not hold the handlebar today, so it’s sad he has to abandon. In the circuits today in Zakopane David was at the front until the final climb, and came in with a top group of riders. Tomorrow will be intense and hard, but we are going strong.”

Gallery:

Results:

Jack Haig 1^st: (ORICA – Scott) : 4:58:55
Wout Poels 2^nd: (Team Sky) : 0:51 back
Bob Jungels 3^rd: (Quick-Step Floors) : 0:51 back

Team Novo Nordisk Results:

David Lozano :49^th: 12:04 back
Javier Megias : 78^th: 17:48 back
Joonas Henttala : 94^th: 28:07 back
Charles Planet : 105^th : 28:07 back
Chris Williams : 123^nd : 34:44 back
Andrea Peron : DNS
Martijn Verschoor : DNF

Stage 7

Tour de Pologne - Stage 7

Race: Tour de Pologne, stage 7

Start/Finish: Bukowina Tatrzanska/Bukowina Tatrzanska

Distance: 132 kilometer

BUKOWINA TATRZANSKA, POLAND – Javier Megias finished the Tour de Pologne on Friday, leading Team Novo Nordisk to a successful completion of the seven day World Tour stage race.

With two active breakaways in the opening stages, and dogged succession each day following, Megias and his teammates David Lozano, Joonas Henttala, Charles Planet, Martijn Verschoor, Andrea Peron and Chris Williams defended their positions and fought for the front across the hot summer fields and mountains of southern Poland.

Friday’s final stage was won by Wout Poels of the Netherlands, with the final overall classification going to Dylan Teuns, who is Belgian and from a rival team. The stage was a short, intense and hilly circuit around the Polish resort area known as Bukowina Tatrzanska (pronounced Buko-veena Tatra-zanska).

Tens of thousands of cycling fans, tourists and travelers stood along the roadside against a backdrop of dramatic mountain peaks and lush, green fields as Team Novo Nordisk raced at the Tour de Pologne against and among some of the top professional cyclists in the world.

Javier Megias:

“Our goal was to be in the break every day, and we got two – for a World Tour race, a really hard race, that’s good and we’re happy. The race was really hard and we survived some great stages.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“The Tour de Pologne in 2017 was our hardest race of the year, and the guys went good. Friday’s final stage was our single hardest day of racing of the year, and the team worked to keep Javi, David and Charles up on the circuits. It wasn’t as hot today as earlier in the week, and we’re all looking forward to the Arctic Tour in Norway next.”

Results: