Tour de Pologne 2015: Stage 2

Welcome to live coverage of the Tour de Pologne stage two from Czestochowa to Dabrowa Górnicza.

Click here for our report from stage 1

It was a late start for the riders today on the second stage of the Tour de Pologne. Racing is well underway and the riders have not long been through the first intermediate sprint of the day at 55 kilometres.

Marcel Kittel was yesterday's stage winner, beating Caleb Ewan in the bunch sprint to become the first race leader. You can watch highlights of that victory here.

80km remaining from 146km

There are five men currently up the road with a two minute gap on the peloton. The riders out front are Kamil Gradek (Poland), Adrian Kurek (CCC Sprandi), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Sander Armée 9Lotto-Soudal) and Martijn Keizer (LottoNL-Jumbo)

Today's stage is likely to be another one for the sprinters. The 146km stage has plenty of rolling terrain but nothing that should trouble the sprinters too much. The road goes up slightly towards the finish, which could favour Ewan but Kittel will be a tough man to beat today. Here's a quick look at the profile for today.

The gap to the escapees is coming down, after having two minutes only 1:15 remains.

@Tour_de_Pologne Mon, 3rd Aug 2015 15:12:49

After bringing the advantage down to 1:15, the peloton have let it go out again following that climb. They're just about to hit the feed zone so we can expect that to increase a little bit more through there.

Away from the racing and there was come big news this morning with Tom Danielson posting on twitter that he'd tested positive for synthetic testosterone. He is awaiting confirmation of the results for the B sample but the team has suspended him with immediate effect. Read the full story here.

Marcus Burghardt has dropped out of the leading group while there has been a crash behind. David de la Cruz was one of those involved.

48km remaining from 146km

OricaGreen-Edge leads the bunch across the line for the first of six times over the line. They're taking it easy for now and don't seem too concerned by the escapees who have 1:21 on them at the moment.

Considering his prowess, it may be a surprise that yesterday's stage victory was the first UCI-ranked race this season after he fell ill earlier in the season. After his victory, Kittel told reporters that there was so much tension inside of him it could have been cut with a knife. Read what he had to say about the win yesterday.

40km remaining from 146km

The gap to the escapees has come down to just 38 seconds and keeps coming down. They're about to cross the line for the second time today.

Trek Factory racing and Astana are helping out Giant-Alpecin with the pace setting on the front of the peloton. They've got Giacomo Nizzolo and Andrea Guardini respectively, who will both be looking to make up for missing out yesterday.

Reports coming through that David de la Cruz has a suspected broken collarbone following his earlier crash. The Spaniard abandoned the race immediately.

@Tour_de_Pologne Mon, 3rd Aug 2015 15:53:28

Movistar have also been present at the front of the bunch today. They're working for Juan Jose Lobato for today. Away from the race, the Spanish team revealed that Nairo Quintana would add his name to the list of starters at the Vuelta a Espana at the end of this month. Will any of the riders in Poland be joining him?

25km remaining from 146km

The gap is hovering around the 1:04 mark with 25km to go. Trek on the front and the bunch has begun to stretch out under the pace.

The pace is really lighting up behind the escapees with just over two laps to go. The gap is coming down once again and our four leaders have just 30 seconds. They won't want to catch them too early though or they'll have to defend plenty of attacks.

20km remaining from 146km

The peloton have the escapees in their sights now as they cross the line once again. It's not long now before they're caught.

World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski is sitting safely in the centre of the bunch. Today isn't one for him but he could be a contender for the overall victory later in the week. The Polish rider got a rapturous welcome to the start earlier today and even climbed on the team bus. We're not sure how he managed to get up or down, probably with a little help.

It's all back together no after the four escapees were reeled back in. Astana lead the peloton, who seem to have taken the foot off the gas a little bit. 1.5 laps of this 10km course left.

Trek Factory racing have got fed up of the laid back pace and have put a rider on the front to wind up the speed. IAM Cycling also up there.

@velocast Mon, 3rd Aug 2015 16:16:31

The speed continues to ramp up and as we near the final lap, the peloton are hitting speeds of up 56kph.

10km remaining from 146km

Final lap and everything is still together in the peloton.

Astana and Katusha are drag racing in this finale, with Fabio Aru riding on the front for the Kazakh team.

3km remaining from 146km

There are a few twists and turns ion this final lap, but the final corner is much more sweeping then that of yesterday. Still, position will be key going into it.

All the sprinters teams trying to throw riders to the front here but the road is a bit tight at the moment. Orica currently bossing things.t.

1km remaining from 146km

Kittel and his Giant Alpecin team are being forced to with their way up the right of the bunch but they've got Trek in the way.

The bunch is well strung out going into the final kilometer. Caleb Ewan is fourth rider in the bunch with the red jersey on his back.

Giant find space on the left now and move up towards the front

Orica lead into final corner

crash

Pelucchi wins

There seemed to be a touching of wheels in the bunch on that final corner and a lot of riders went down. Looks like Kwiatkowski was involved. They'll all get the same time as the winner though.

Riders finally making their way across the road after that crash. It seems most are not too hurt, which is good news.

A replay of the crash shows that it was Ewan who touched wheels with Modolo in front of him. The Australian lost control of his bike and ended up hitting the rider next to him. Kittel was almost involved in it but somehow managed to avoide it.

Pelucchi had a great turn of speed in that sprint, winning by quite a margin over Kittel. Nizzolo takes third.

Only nine riders managed to avoid being caught in that crash with 10th place crossing the line over a minute behind.

Confirmation of the top 10 from today's stage.

1 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling
2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
4 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
6 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida
7 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
8 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
9 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
10 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

@SC_Cycling Mon, 3rd Aug 2015 16:43:01

We've already got our brief report up and there will be full results and a gallery to come. Check it all out here.

That is all from us today but stick with Cyclingnews for all the reaction plus reports and photos from the Tour of Utah and tune in tomorrow for more live coverage from Poland.