Sivakov wins 2019 Tour de Pologne

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Pavel Sivakov secured overall victory at the Tour de Pologne after his Team Ineos teammates distanced race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) during the hilly final stage around Bukowina Tatrzańska and then controlled every challenge from his nearest overall rivals.

Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) won the final hilly stage after launching a brave solo attack with 57km to race. He pointed to the sky as he crossed the line, dedicating his victory to Bjorg Lambrecht, who tragically died after crashing on stage 3 of the race.

The USA's Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma) finished 55 seconds behind Mohoric, with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) third at on the stage at 1:07.

The 22-year-old Sivakov finished in the front group, 2:15 behind. In the final overall classification he finished two seconds ahead of fellow young talent Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), with Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) third at 12 seconds. Eleven riders finished within 20 seconds.

Talented young riders continued to emerge, with 22-year-old Colombian Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) fourth at 14 seconds and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) fifth in the same time. Team Ineos also won the team prize.

Sivakov showed huge potential as an under-23 rider, winning the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc, the Ronde de l'Isard and the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia. He opted to turn professional in 2018 with Team Sky and after a year of apprenticeship, he won the Tour of the Alps and went on to finish ninth in the Giro d'Italia.

Sivakov finished second behind Vingegaard on Thursday after riding a conservative but consistent race and had the strength and the team support to secure overall victory on Friday.

How it happened

The route of the concluding stage was identical to last year's, which produced a dramatic finale, where Simon Yates took the stage honours and Michal Kwiatkowski secured overall victory. With 17 riders inside 60 seconds minute of the yellow jersey at the start, it was always going to be a very aggressive final day.

The early break of 14 formed early and would prove to be important. In there were Mohoric, Michal Goals (Team Ineos), Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates), Carlos Betancur (Movistar), Clément Chevrier (AG2R La Mondiale), Simon Geschke (CCC), Serge Pauwels (CCC), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Mathias Le Turnier (Cofidis), Ivan Rovny (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Merhawi Kudus (Astana), Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Tsgabu Grmay (Mitchelton-Scott) and José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).

They forged clear over the top the day's first ascent and had a lead of three minutes with 100km remaining. Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) began the day in 21st overall at 2:16, and so was the virtual race leader as the break's lead extends to 3:06.

The shark-tooth stage profile and the summer heat meant the stage would always be an elimination race. Darwin Atapuma (Cofidis) was an early victim after breaking his fork.

Mohoric was disappointed to lose time in the general classification and so took off from the break with 57km to go, in search of a stage victory. It seemed like a wild attack but he was convinced he had the power and bike skills to pull it off.

Mohoric's lead reached a minute as the break fractured behind him and the overall contenders focused on distancing stage 6 winner Vingegaard from the peloton. He fought bravely as Team Ineos set a painful tempo but was distanced with 40km to go, losing any hope of overall victory. Suddenly the final podium was wide open and up for grabs, with Team Ineos knowing that Sivakov had a great chance of victory.

Simon Petilli, Merhawi Kudus, Carl Fredrik Hagen and Simon Geschke tried to chase Mohoric and pulled the gap back to 40 seconds but they struggled and splintered. Behind, Formolo tried his hand with Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) but they were pulled back with Salvatore Puccio doing the hard work for Team Ineos.

Mohoric led the race through the finish line and onto the shorter final lap. The Slovenian had 46 seconds in hand on a chasing group but the constant climbing was hurting everyone. Brambilla sparked an attack from riders who were not an overall threat, with Team Ineos letting them go. He was joined by Powless and the others but Mohoric was too strong for them and stayed away to take a solo victory.

Behind Sivakov was also in control. With the time bonuses already taken, he let several riders sprint for the placings before celebrating his first-ever WorldTour stage race victory with teammate Geoghegan Hart.

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