Atapuma gets revenge with Tour of Poland stage win

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Darwin Atapuma gave the Colombia team its first victory of the 2013 season on stage 6 of the Tour de Pologne. The 25-year-old Colombian was part of a day-long breakaway on the 192km stage in Bukowina that included 10 category 1 climbs, a perfect scenario for the diminutive climber. He attacked on the final climb and was joined in the final kilometers by stage 2 winner Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale).

The Frenchman, seeking to take over the race lead, was forced to do most of the work, and Atapuma was able to get his revenge for being drummed out of the stage 5 breakaway by powering away for the stage victory. 

"I am happy, tired but really happy. Honestly, it feels great to be a WorldTour stage winner," Atapuma said. "When we were at 500 metres to the line, I turned behind and saw no one was coming, and that was the moment I realized I was going to make it. I know this win has of huge importance, not only for me but for the whole team and our project, and makes me even more proud after what happened yesterday: I think we showed we could have won even that stage…"

Riblon gained 22 seconds on overnight leader Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) to take over the yellow jersey by 19 seconds, thanks to the time bonus.

Saxo-Tinkoff's Rafal Majka remains in third by one further second, having overcome a late-race tumble to regain the yellow jersey chase group, which was led to the line by NetApp-Endura's Leopold Konig.

With 10 classified climbs on tap for the day, there was a sense of urgency for riders to get away early. The break of the day went away quickly after the start on the first lap of the day's 38.4km circuit, with Polish riders Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM) joined by Sandy Casar (FDJ), Leopold Konig (NetApp-Endura) and Atapuma.

As the push to make the move continued, the group swelled to 32 riders - more a split from the field than a breakaway. It included Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp) and several CCC Polsat riders including Davide Rebellin, BMC's Ivan Santaromita and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) among others. Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp-Endura) and Sylvester Szmyd (Movistar) broke free, but were brought back before the midway point of the stage.

Entering the final lap the unrelenting climbing had whittled the lead group down to 13, comprised of Howes, Casar, Atapuma, Konig, Rebellin, Croatian champion Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack Leopard), Italian champion Ivan Santaromita and Mathias Frank (BMC), Sergei Chernetskiy (Katusha), stage 1 winner Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Kevin De Weert and Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Francis De Greef (Lotto Belisol).

A further sorting followed on the stage's penultimate climb as Howes attacked in a bid to get away for the win, but he was marked by Kiserlovski. The American persisted, was brought back again, and seven riders crested the Zab KOM together, led across by Atapuma.

The aggressive racing continued as this lead group split with three riders going clear: Kiserlovski, Santaromita and Konig. This leading trio was pursued by a three-rider chase group comprised of Howes, Atapuma and Golas.

Once again there would be a re-grouping as Kiserlovski, Santaromita and Konig were caught by Howes, Atapuma and Golas just prior to the final climb. Chernetskiy, too, would make his way back to the pointy end of the race. Atapuma pushed the pace on the final ascent of the Gliczarów, which, coming with just over 12km to race, proved to be the launch pad to finally snap the elastic of the breakaway.

Atapuma went solo, but was joined by Chernetskiy and the Colombian led the Russian over the final KOM. Meanwhile, Riblon attacked the yellow jersey group, crested the Gliczarów summit 33 seconds behind Atapuma and Chernetskiy, and the Frenchman soon made contact with the other escapees who weren't able to keep pace with Atapuma and Chernetskiy.

With 5.5km remaining Atapuma and Chernetskiy led the Riblon-powered chase group by 15 seconds and at the beginning of the 3km rise to the finish line Riblon jumped clear of the chase group.

Just as Riblon made contact with Atapuma and Chernetskiy, the Colombian jumped away with 2.6km to the finish. Riblon, with much fresher legs than either Atapuma or Chernetskiy, quickly recovered from his chase effort, dropped the Russian, and bridged across to Atapuma with 1.6km to go. At this point the Colombian refused to work while Riblon, knowing the leader's jersey could be his if he kept the pressure on, kept driving to the finish. As the pair approached the finish line Atapuma jumped away to win by two seconds over the Frenchman.

"It is a huge moment for us, coming just after such a painful day," said Colombia General Manager Claudio Corti. "Atapuma tackled the Tour de Pologne in great condition, had a bad day on the Passo Pordoi and rode great ever since, and really deserves this joy. It's our team's first win in a WorldTour race, another key step forward for our project. It is a huge satisfaction for us, and I really believe we deserved it."

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