Tour de Pologne 2020: Massive crash disrupts stage 1 sprint

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The first stage of Tour de Pologne concluded with a high-speed crash as Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) battled in the final meters of a downhill finish in Katowice.

The two were contesting a close sprint on the finishing straight when Groenewegen swung right and Jakobsen crashed into and through the barriers. The Dutch sprinter subsequently crossed the line in first before falling down himself and taking more riders with him.

Jakobsen was immediately attended to by medical services on site and transported to the hospital with serious injuries. 

Groenewegen was disqualified by the race jury and Jakobsen awarded the stage win, points classification and overall race leader's jersey.

Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) was awarded second place on the stage ahead of Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), but along with Jakobsen will not start the second stage.

Mezgec will presumably wear the race leader's jersey.

How it unfolded

The dry sound of a starting pistol followed a minute's silence at an empty Silesian Stadium in Chorzów. A year after the tragic death of Bjorg Lambrecht, the professional peloton gathered in southern Poland for the first stage race of the WorldTour series after the shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Racing began in uncommon silence, with no spectators allowed in the start zone and with the peloton following measures such as mandatory tests before joining the 'race bubble', daily health checks, and protective measures in hotels.

The opening stage offered a slightly undulating route leading through Silesian Voivodeship. With a well-known, 16.3km local lap in Katowice city centre and a downhill straight in the final, a sprinters' showdown was widely expected after 196 kilometres of racing.

The day's breakaway got sorted fairly swiftly, just 13 kilometres into the stage, as Polish riders Kamil Małecki (CCC Team) and Maciej Paterski (Polish National Team) enlisted Samuel Brand (Team Novo Nordisk) and Julius van der Berg (EF Pro Cycling) to join them in a day-long effort.

The quartet quickly built a gap of 4:30 over the peloton but was unable to hold it at that level for long. Riders from Jumbo-Visma, Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-Quick-Step shared the pacing duties, slowly settling into the routine of a stage race.

Paterski took points at the first intermediate sprint and kept imposing himself three more times over his breakaway companions: twice at intermediate sprints and once at a special premie. The bunch kept the escapees on a short leash as Bora-Hansgrohe’s Maciej Bodnar was seen setting the pace throughout the day. The gap kept dropping slowly, even falling below two minutes with 100 kilometres to go.

Paterski emerged victorious from a sprint battle with Małecki at the third intermediate sprint and the leaders entered the first of three local laps two minutes ahead of the bunch. Unfazed by the small hill marked as a categorized climb, Bodnar upped the pace, ensuring his teammates' position at head of the peloton. 

Staying attentive paid dividends as a crash with 30 kilometres to go hampered John Degenkolb’s ambitions. The German fell together with a number of other riders in an incident that also stopped Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Christoph Pfingsten (Jumbo-Visma), among others.

Małecki and Van den Berg, meanwhile, gathered mountain classification points but their adventure quickly came to an end with one lap remaining. Team Ineos, Bahrain-McLaren and Polish National Team were among those lining up at the front while another two crashes held up more riders. 

In the final kilometre, UAE Team Emirates and Trek-Segafredo attempted to take control of things as Groenewegen and Ackermann kept to the middle of the road.

The German was unable to hold his effort to the line, while the Dutch sprinter took the lead and in the final meters appeared to move right towards the advancing Jakobsen, who was challenging him for the victory. The Dutch champion crashed heavily into the barriers, while Groenewegen crossed the line first and then fell down, taking down more riders with him as the barriers collapsed into the road.