Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) took the opening stage and race lead at the Tour of Poland 2019.
The German continued his fine form from the Giro d'Italia to edge out Fernando Gaviria (UAE Emirates), who opened up his sprint early with Ackermann clawing the Colombian back on the long finishing straight.
Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) finished third, Max Walscheid (Sunweb) fourth and Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) rounding out the top five.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) crashed in the final kilometres, preventing him from contesting the sprint but was ultimately unharmed as the Manxman got back on his bike and headed towards the finish.
How it happened
Stage one was the first of three days for the sprinters to compete for stage wins before the race heads uphill. The opening day provided a start and finish in the Polish city of Krakow.
Route profile map of stage one of the Tour of Poland
Three riders attacked the peloton in the opening stages, Jakub Kaczmarek and Adrian Kurek both representing the Polish national team as well as the magnificently named Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk).
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Kurek won the intermediate sprint before crashing and returning to the peloton, leaving the other two escapees to complete the final 100km as a duo.
Planet took the solitary King of the Mountain point at the top of the fourth category Lanckorona climb, then doubling his tally at the summit of Witanowice with 56km remaining.
With Planet sweeping up the KoM points, Kaczmarek took two of the intermediate sprints before the pair were caught with 15km left to race.
As the peloton went under 10km to go two Cofidis riders abandoned the race, Luis Ángel Maté and Jesper Hansen, with Bora-Hansgrohe, Deceuninck - Quick-Step and Ineos pulling the peloton, reaching speeds of 60km/h as the bunch rumbled towards the finish line.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was looking to turn his year around after being omitted from the South African team's Tour de France line-up but crashed with 3.5km to go. The Manxman got back on his bike, seemingly unscathed, but would not contest the bunch sprint.
Fernando Gaviria was led out by a team-mate and hit the front early. The Colombian looked strong until Pascal Ackermann drew level, then pulled clear, crossing the line first to take the stage win and overall race lead.
Results
Tour of Poland 2019, stage one, Krakow to Krakow (132.3km)
1. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 2-57-58
2. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
3. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
4. Max Walscheid (Ger) Sunweb
5. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC
7. Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
8. Paweł Franczak (Pol) Poland
9. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
10. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time
General classification after stage one
1. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 2-57-58
2. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
3. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
4. Max Walscheid (Ger) Sunweb
5. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC
7. Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
8. Paweł Franczak (Pol) Poland
9. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
10. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time
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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.
I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.
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