World champion Mads Pedersen surprises the sprinters to win Tour of Poland 2020 stage two
It is the first time the Dane has won a road race in the rainbow jersey
World champion Mads Pedersen took his first win in the rainbow jersey on the Tour of Poland 2020 stage two, beating the sprinters at the their own game in a bunch gallop to the line.
His Trek-Segafredo team did a perfect lead out for him and he delivered with a powerful sprint from a long way out, beating the likes of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the line.
Pedersen, who finished third on the same course in the 2019 edition of the race, also takes the overall lead from Kamil Malecki (CCC Team) thanks to time bonuses.
How it happened
The riders started the day in Opole, with an unpleasant feel around the race after Fabio Jakobsen's (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) crash from the day before, and travelled on a flat 151.5km to Zabrze where the riders faced by a short 6km circuit, that they would ride four times.
A two-man breakaway escaped early and it was made up of two riders who were also up the road on day one of the race. Julius Van den Berg (EF Pro Cycling) who wears the mountains jersey and Maciej Paterski (Polish National Team) who wears the blue jersey of most active rider.
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Kamil Małecki (CCC Team) wore the yellow jersey due to Dylan Groenewegen's (Jumbo-Visma) disqualification and Fabio Jakobsen being obviously unable to take the start. CCC didn't want to accept the jersey and offered it to Deceuninck-Quick-Step, but regulations meant that Małecki had to wear it.
As the riders entered the circuit the two breakers up front had just 30-seconds with 20km to go. The peloton's pace was high to keep the racing safe and strung out, with the bunch just 13-seconds down on the break as they crossed the line for the first time.
A lap after entering the circuit, the break was brought back with 16km to go. It was Lotto-Soudal, Mitchelton-Scott and Bora-Hansgrohe that had control and had done throughout the day.
Heading into the last lap Trek-Segafredo and Bahrain-McLaren lead the peloton to try and lead out their sprinters to victory. A much more organised finish with three lead out trains of Trek, Sunweb and UAE Team Emirates, had control with 3km to go.
Pedersen was led perfectly to the front of the bunch in the final few hundred metres and was launched his sprint first a long way from the line. Ackermann was the only rider who really looked to challenge him, but the German just left it too late, unable to stop the world champion taking the victory ahead of him.
The Tour of Poland continues on Friday with stage three, a hilly 203.1km route from Wadowice to Bielsko-Biala.
Results
Tour of Poland, stage two - Opole -Zabrze (151.5km)
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, in 3-26-02
2. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
4. Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
5. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb
6. Albert Torres (Esp) Movistar Team
7. Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
8. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
9. Piet Allegaet (Bel) Cofidis
10. Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar, all at same time
General classification
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, in 7-57-42
2. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 4s
3. Kamil Małecki (Pol) CCC Team, at same time
4. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott, at 6s
5. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time
6. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates, at 10s
7. Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
8. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb
9. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Bahrain-McLaren
10. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling, all same time.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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