January 1 - August 3, Kraków, POL, Road - WorldTour
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Stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne, 226km from Kraków to Rzeszów.
70km remaining from 226km
As we pick up the action, a four-man break has a lead of 6:50 over the peloton. Aleksandr Dyachenko (Astana), Ricardo Mestre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice) broke clear inside the opening kilometres of the stage and by the 100km mark, they had stretched out their advantage to ten minutes.
Since then, a number of teams, including the Saxo-Tinkoff team of race leader Rafal Majka have begun to take up the chase, although with rosters limited to just six riders, the Tour of Poland is proving a difficult race to control.
Aleksandr Dyachenko is the best-placed man on general classification in the day’s break and he began this race as Astana’s principal overall hope. The Kazakh lies over 33 minutes down in 62nd place, however, hence the lack of urgency in Saxo-Tinkoff’s commitment to the pursuit.
The Tour of Poland's novel Italian start saw some substantial gaps open over two tough days in Trentino, but things remain tightly locked at the top of the overall standings, where Rafal Majka leads Sergio Henao (Sky) by just 4 seconds, with Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) - tamer of Alpe-d'Huez and the mighty Passo Pordoi - third at 6 seconds.
General classification after stage 2:
1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 11:04:43 2 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:04 3 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:06 4 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:07 5 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:09 6 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 7 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:13 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:16 10 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:18 11 Ivan Basso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:20 12 Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:48 13 Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:14 14 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:01:23 15 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:01:34
57km remaining from 226km
Our four leaders - Aleksandr Dyachenko (Astana), Ricardo Mestre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice) - have just come through the intermediate sprint at Strzyżów with a lead of 5:35 over the peloton.
In theory, today's stage ought to be one for the sprinters, with the category 3 climb at Lubenia with 35km to go the only real obstacle in the finale. But with teams limited to just six riders apiece, pegging back the break's lead may not prove as straightforward as it seems.
Extreme heat greeted the peloton when it arrived in Krakow on Monday’s rest day. Temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon but overnight, there was a welcome change in conditions. The peloton set out from Krakow this afternoon under leaden skies and a steady drizzle, with temperatures down 20 degrees or so.
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The break's advantage is begin to tumble inside the final 50 kilometres of the stage. The gap is down to 4:30 as the pace continues to pick up in the main peloton.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) capped his Giro d’Italia victory in May with a snowbound stage win at Tre Cime di Lavaredo but his return to the Dolomites at the weekend could scarcely have been more different, as he lost over half and hour in the Tour of Poland’s opening exchanges.
Matysiak leads the break over the top of the climb at Lubenia, where BMC are taking up the reins of the chase in support of Thor Hushovd.
BMC have a lot of horse power in their ranks at this Tour of Poland, and Marco Pinotti is putting in a huge turn on the front of the peloton. At the top of the climb, the gap between the break and the peloton has fallen to 2:50.
The earlier rain has subsided on the run-in to Rzeszów, but there are still menacing, leaden skies overhead.
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Interesting to see Danny Pate come to the front and lend a hand to BMC's pace-setting efforts at the head of the peloton, as Sky look to provide Ben Swift with a chance of contesting the stage win.
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The four escapees are continuing to collaborate smoothly on the approach to the finishing circuit, but there is an increasing urgency to the peloton's pursuit and the odds are stacked against them.
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The break's buffer has fallen to 2:20 and the cracks begin to show when Selvaggi puts in a long turn on a false flat that sees Dyachenko and Mestre briefly distanced.
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Vacansoleil and Euskaltel-Euskadi have placed a pair of riders each near the front of the peloton in a bid to upset the rhythm of the BMC chase, but another ten seconds have been shaved off the break's lead. 2:10 the gap.
23km remaining from 226km
The break are five kilometres away from the technical finishing circuit with two minutes in hand over the peloton.
Marco Pinotti has put in a fine afternoon's work in support of Thor Hushovd. The Italian missed out on the Giro d'Italia this season due to injury but he is now building carefully towards the world time trial championships in Florence.
18km remaining from 226km
As ever at the Tour of Poland, huge crowds and a prodigious collection of advertising inflatables are on hand to greet the four escapees as they pass the finish line in Rzeszów for the first time,
The peloton passes through the same point 1:28 down on the break and remains on target to reel in the four escapees just before the finish. A sizeable Cannondale delegation is near the front looking to keep Ivan Basso out of trouble.
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The break zips across the Wisłok river for the first time, with the margin reduced to 1:10.
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The leading quartet are refusing to yield to the inevitable as Matysiak leads them towards the finish area for the second time to the raucous approval of the home crowds.
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With two laps of the finishing circuit to go, the peloton's deficit has been reduced to one minute, with Cannondale adding their firepower to the chase.
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Rigoberto Uran (Sky) is happy to play the role of domestique for fellow countryman Sergio Henao at the Tour of Poland, and he comes through to the front to chip another chunk off the break's lead.
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Dyachenko and Selvaggi are still motoring strongly up front, and putting up stout resistance to the pursuit behind.
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Garmin-Sharp are also beginning to contribute bodies to the chase as the gap falls to 40 seconds.
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The powerful Selvaggi leads the break through the finish line to take the bell for the final lap. The four leaders are refusing to yield.
The bunch comes through just 27 seconds later, and it looks if the peloton's pursuit has been a well-timed one.
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Sky, Colombia, BMC and Garmin-Sharp are all contributing heavily to the chase as the gap falls to 20 seconds.
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As Argos-Shimano join the chase, the bunch moves to within breathing distance of the break.
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The bunch closes to within 10 seconds and Dyachenko duly attempts to jump clear of his breakaway companions. Selvaggi and Mestre follow.
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The game is up for the breakaways, who have just a couple of seconds in hand on the bunch.
A huge turn from Taylor Phinney seals the break's fate as Ag2r join him at the head of the bunch.
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Belkin lead into the final kilometre, with Mark Renshaw safely tucked in fourth wheel ahead of BMC's Thor Hushovd.
Taylor Phinney puts in another big turn at the front and then Mark Renshaw opens the sprint on the final, gentle right-hand bend...
Thor Hushovd (BMC) comes through to take the win, ahead of Steel Von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) and Renshaw.
Hushovd was canny in placing himself on Renshaw's wheel and he had the power to come around in the finale to claim the win. He can be grateful, too, to Taylor Phinney, who kept the pace high inside the final 400 metres to set up the sprint.
Brief results:
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team 2 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 3 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 4 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 5 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol 6 Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 7 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 8 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale 9 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 10 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano
General classification after stage 3:
1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 11:04:43 2 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:04 3 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:06 4 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:07 5 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:09 6 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:09 7 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:13 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:13 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:16 10 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:18
Thanks for joining us on Cyclingnews for today's coverage of the Tour of Poland. We'll have a full report, results and pictures here shortly, and we'll be back on Wednesday with more live coverage from stage 4 between Tarnów and Katowice.
