56th Tour de Pologne, Cat 2.4

Main Page Report: Daniel Marzalek reports that the 56th Tour de Pologne (Wyscig Dookola Polski) started in the town of Elblag with fine and sunny weather and temperature well over 20 degrees Celsius. Six riders attacked just after the 15 kms mark - Brozyna and Zamana (Mróz), Gutierrez (ONCE), Kasputis (Casino), Mondini (Cantina Tollo) and Jens Voigt (Crédit Agricole). They took all the premies along the way as follows: Sprint 1 in Mlynary (32 kms) Mondini - Zamana - Gutierrez Sprint 2 in Pieniezno (83 kms) Zamana - Mondini - Voigt Sprint 3 in Braniewo (113 kms) Mondini - Zamana - Kasputis By the half way mark their lead reached a maximum of 13 minutes. At km 148, the only mountain premie was contested in Kadyny (180 metres). A Cat 2 climb and it was Zamana (5 pts) ahead of Mondini (3 pts), from Voigt (2 pts), Brozyna and Gutierrez (both 1 pt). The finish involved 4 x 6 kms laps around the streets of Elblag. The leaders were 9.35 in front of the peloton as they went onto the circuits. With 12 kms to go (2 laps) they had 8.30. On the last lap the two Mróz riders tried their luck. Zamana put in a big move with 1 kms to go but failed to get away. In the end it was Mondini who won the uphill sprint (700 metres at 4%) ahead of Voigt and Zamana. The peloton came in at about 7.08 with Piotr Wadecki the fastest finisher in his hometown. Stage 1, Elblag - Elblag, 188 kms: 1. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 4.15.55 2. Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole 3. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 4. Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 5. Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) Casino 6. Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) Mróz 7. Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mróz 7.08 8. Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 7.08 9. Aguado Rebollo (Esp) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 7.08 10. Artur Krasinski (Pol) Sprandi 7.08 11. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Agro Adler-Brandenburg 7.08 12. Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mróz 7.08 13. Piotr Zaradny (Pol) Sprandi 7.08 14. Lauri Aus (Est) Casino 7.08 15. Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 7.08 16. Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Pol) Sprandi 7.08 17. Bart Voskamp (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites 7.08 18. Andrzej Sypytkowski (Pol) Mróz 7.08 19. Kirk O'Bee (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 7.08 20. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 7.08 .. 33. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit) Mróz Abandoned: Giorgio Bosisio (Ita) Italy Carlos Sestre (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step Started: 139 Finished: 135