Tour de Pologne: Almeida holds on to win stage 2

Image 1 of 23

João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took a hard-fought victory on the uphill finish of stage 2 at the Tour de Pologne. The Portuguese rider, known for his racing tenacity, made a late-race attack with 1.3km to go, and even when Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) closed the gap on the final uphill slopes of the race, Almeida was strong enough to win a tactical two-rider sprint to the finish line in Przemyśl. 

Ulissi was forced to settle for second place while Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) closed the gap to the two riders and crossed the line in third.

The victory bumped up Almeida into the leader’s jersey at the Tour de Pologne with a four-second advantage over Mohorič and Ulissi as the race heads into stage 3’s 226.4km race from Sanok to Rzeszów on Wednesday.

"I am so happy, because this is such a great win for me. I was a bit nervous before the start of the final climb, but as soon as we arrived there I noticed how good I felt and decided to launch an all-or-nothing attack," Almeida said. 

"I focused only on myself and on managing my effort, and even after Ulissi came across I continued to remain calm and still had enough left to surge to victory.

"To get the win here, on such a brutal climb, gives me a lot of satisfaction, and the yellow jersey that came with it is just the cherry on the top. In the next days we will see what we can do in the general classification, but for the moment I want to enjoy this unforgettable day for me together with this amazing team that was again of such great help."

UAE Team Emirates led the small field into finishing town of Przemyśl where Lotto Soudal, Israel Start-up Nation, Bahrain Victorious took over within 3km to go. They made a left turn onto a stretch of cobbles with 1.6km from the finish where Mohorič pushed clear of the field, but as the field closed the gap, Almeida made his first bid for the stage win at 1.3km out.

Almeida made a quick descent and then launched another attack into the final climb opening up a further gap inside the last kilometre. Out of the saddle, he sprinted toward the line as Movistar’s Einer Augusto Rubio tried desperately too close the gap with Ulissi on this wheel.

Ulissi punched forward with 300m to go and as he tried to sprint around Almeida, but the Portuguese rider would not let up, both riders sprinting for the finish line with Almeida taking the stage win.

How it unfolded

The second stage of the Tour de Pologne was 200.8km between Zamość and Przemyśl. The day offered two intermediate sprints at Krasnobrod (20km) and Jozefow (40km), and three categorised ascents at Wolka Husinska (28km), and then closer to the finish at Kalwaria Paclawksa (172km) and Gruszowa (180km) before a descent and a flat tun-in to the punchy uphill finish in Przemyśl.

An early breakaway of five included Nikita Stalnov (Astana-Premier Tech), Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education-Nippo), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Gabriel Cullaigh (Movistar Team), Patryk Stosz (Voster ATS Team) that pushed their gap out to nearly four minutes by the time they reached the first intermediate sprint, won by van der Hoorn.

Stosz contested and won the full mountain points over the first categorised ascent, 3km at 2.6 per cent. Wolka Husinka and the breakaway then descended straight into the second intermediate sprint at Jozefow, won by van der Hoorn.

Bahrain Victorious set the pace from the main field, protecting previous day’s stage winner and overall leader Phil Bauhaus, reducing the gap to just under two minutes at the halfway point.

As the gap dropped to within one minute, attacks from the field began and a three-rider chase group formed that included Manuele Boaro (Astana-Premier Tech), Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo).

They made the connection, increasing the breakaway to eight riders with 87km to go, and with fresher legs now in the fold, the group extended its lead back out to three minutes.

The gap dropped as the breakaway reached the final 40km of the stage, infused with back-to-back climbs before the finish. Pöstlberger was the first to attack out of the breakaway, as the others struggled and separations opened on the first climb with Stosz, Culllaigh, and Stalnov falling off pace.

Pöstlberger hit the next climb, Kalwaria Paclawksa, 2.1km at 9.3 per cent, with a healthy margin of 45 seconds over the chase of Boaro, Langeveld, Van der Hoorn and Mullen.

Pöstlberger crested the climb alone but the chasers were caught by a charging peloton, sped up by attacks on the ascent. Mohorič jumped on the climb first causing further separations in the peloton.

As Pöstlberger approached the next climb, Gruszowa, 3km at 6 per cent, he held onto a 30-second advantage but Biniam Ghirmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) shot out of the field and closed the gap quickly. Pöstlberger, finished with his breakaway effort for the day, sat up as the rest of the field caught and passed him, too.

Ghirmay held just 12 seconds as he crested the top of the climb with Stefano Oldani (Lotto Soudal) chasing, but with the field so close behind, both riders were caught with 15km to go.

With the field back together, Lotto Soudal and UAE Team Emirates controlled the front on the flat stretch of road before the final. Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took a flyer and seven riders attempted to bridge across. The split was neutralised, however, and the reduced field back together with 10km to go preparing for the final attacks on the uphill finish in Przemyśl.