Greipel sprints to win on wet roads at the end of final stage

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For every rider, the first win in a ProTour race is always special. Daniel Martin from Garmin – Transitions got to know that feeling after the last stage of Tour de Pologne. The young Irish rider maintained the leader’s jersey and became the winner of the Polish race.

“That’s my first win in the ProTour and I’m maybe the happiest man in Poland right know,” said Martin. “When I got the yellow jersey I didn’t want to give it away. I’m really glad that it all worked out well for us.”

“I was pretty relaxed at the beginning of the stage. However it started to rain and it got more interesting. Fortunately my teammates worked very well and managed to keep me safe on the wet roads.

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“I’m very proud that we as a team were the strongest in this race. We not only won the GC but we were also the best in the team classification. Not too many people had expected that we will be able to control the race.”

It was also a great day for Andre Greipel who took his second stage victory. In the mass sprint finish he out-sprinted Yauheni Hutarovich (Française Des Jeux) and Robert Förster (Team Milram).

“The final kilometre was very dangerous. It’s never safe with the slippery roads,” said Greipel who dedicated the win to his newly born niece. “Because of those conditions I couldn’t go full gas but my teammate Marcel Sieberg did a great job and protected me when I needed it. I jumped off Allan Davis’s wheel and took very important victory.

“For a sprinter it’s always nice to get a win, every victory has its own story. When it’s a ProTour race and there are so many good riders in the field it’s even more special.”

Before the final sprint-friendly stage Grega Bole (Lapmre-Fanese Vini) still had a theoretical chance of winning the final general classification. The yellow jersey owner, Daniel Martin from Garmin – Transitions was only 8 seconds ahead of the Slovene in the GC and there were still some bonus seconds to gain. Martin was well aware of the sprinting skills of his greatest rival and knew that the game was very much still on.

And Bole was not the only one who had hopes of winning the race, as there was a bunch of riders who were in the top 15 that tried to break clear early on. Among others the group included Marek Rutkiewicz (Poland BGŻ), Pablo Lastras, Vasili Kiryienka (both Caisse d’Epargne), Tiago Machado (RadioShack), Tom Danielson (Garmin – Transitions), Michael Albasini (HTC Columbia), Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) and Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas – Doimo). The peloton couldn’t let them go too far and they were quickly brought back.

37 kilometres into the stage the next move was made by Jacek Morajko (Poland BGŻ) and Angelo Ruiz Madrazo (Caisse d’Epargne). They were joined by Roy Curvers (Skil Shimano) and together they gained a 5-minute advantage. Later Ivan Rovny (RadioShack), Marco Marcato, Johnny Hoogerland (both Vacansoleil), Ballan and Mauro Santambrogio (both BMC Racing) tried to bridge the gap but their attempt was not successful.

When Andre Greipel’s HTC-Columbia took over the lead in the bunch and Team Sky decided to get involved the gap began to decrease. It dropped to 2:30 minutes with 30 km to go and when it was reduced by one minute Madrazo decided to take off alone.

On the wet roads of Krakow the Spanish rider was giving it all. Meanwhile, Morajko and Curvers were absorbed by the field. The main bunch was drawing very close and it reeled in Madrazo with 4 km remaining. In the final kilometres of the stage and the whole race HTC-Columbia was driving the pace at the front and later was joined by Sky. This time Andre Greipel took advantage of the job done by the opposing team and was comfortable in winning by half a bike length. He bested Yauheni Hutarovich (Française Des Jeux) who was second and Robert Förster (Team Milram) who got third.

The leader of the general classification, Daniel Martin crossed the line with the same time as the winner of the stage and claimed victory in the 67th Tour de Pologne. Grega Bole finished the race in second position eight seconds behind and Bauke Mollema took third 10 seconds behind.

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