56th Tour de Pologne, Cat 2.4Poland, September 6-12, 1999 |
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Report:Daniel Marzalek, reporting from Poland writes that Stage 2 took the 135 riders from Malbork, beside the vast complex of mediaeval castles, to Toruñ. Malbork was previously known as Marienburg and was the capital of the powerful Teuthonic knights orders in mediaeval times. The route went due south to the Toruñ which lies next the Vistula river. Toruñ is also historical as it was the home town Copernicus. The route profile was flat and the pace was fast. All the intermediate sprint points were taken by Polish riders
Sprint premie 1, Sztum, km 12: Zaradny - Chrzanowski - Gebka Before the third sprint three Mróz cyclists (Brozyna-Piatek-Przydzial) attacked and built a lead of around 40 seconds. They were chased by the peloton organised rather surprisingly by the Italian Cantina Tollo team. Misfortune struck the daring Poles when Piatek fell on a cobbled corner and Brozyna was also forecd to stop. A few hundred metres further on Przydzial took the third premie sprint in Wabrzezno (km 108) alone, ahead of Brozyna, with Gebka third leading the peloton. Later there was an attack by two Elite-2 Poles - Slawomir Chrzanowski (Servisco) and Wojciech Pawlak (Sprandi). Behind them Andrzej Sypytkowski (Mroz) and Krzysztof Ciesielski (Lukullus) tried to close the gap. For Polish fans this mean't that all the Polish teams in the Tour were represented at the front. The two leaders built a lead of 2.00 on the peloton as they went onto the 4 x 5 kms finishing laps in Toruñ. 3 laps to go it was 1.22, 2 to go 0.55 and as they went into the final lap the lead was 15 seconds and falling. The other two Poles who had been lingering in between were absorbed. Finally Chrzanowski and soon after Pawlak gave up and the finishing moves began. Immediately, a very strong trio - Jan Kirsipuu, Roberto Petito and Davide Etxebarria attacked and they looked like they would stay away. But they couldn't cooperate together and with 500 metres to go they were caught by the fast finishing bunch. The final sprint was won by Italian Massimo Strazzer from Mobilvetta ahead of three Polish sprinters. An exciting day. Gianpaolo Mondini (Cantina Tollo-Alexia) retained his leader's jersey finishing around 10th. British rider Chris Boardman was forced to retire early in the stage after falling. Stage 2, Malbork - Toruñ, 173.5 kms:AVS: 44.614 km/h 1. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 3.53.20 2. Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mróz 3. Piotr Zaradny (Pol) Sprandi 4. Artur Krzeszowiec (Pol) Amore e Vita 5. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Agro Adler-Brandenburg 6. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites 7. Adriano Baffi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 8. Martin van Steen (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites 9. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 10. Aleksiej Siwakow (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93 11. Bartlomiej Ksobiak (Pol) Lukullus 12. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 13. Christiophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 14. Kirk O'Bee (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 15. Radoslaw Romanik (Pol) Sprandi 16. Harald Morscher (Aut) Saeco-Cannondale 17. Olivier Perrudeau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 18. Robert Radosz (Pol) Servisco 19. Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Pol) Sprandi 20. Jaroslaw Ryszewski (Pol) Servisco 36. Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mróz 40. Raimondas Rumsas (Pol) Mróz 43. Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) Mróz 94. Slawomir Chrzanowski (Pol) Servisco s.t. Started: 135 Finished: 129 retired : Chris Boardman (GB) Crédit Agricole Davide Bramati (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step Adler Capelli (Ita) Mixed Italian Jonathan Hall (Aus) Festina Emanuele Negrini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale GC after Stage 2
1. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 8.08.45 2. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 3. Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 4. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) Casino 5. Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) Mróz 6. Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole s.t. 7. Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mróz 7.05 8. Piotr Zaradny (Pol) Sprandi 7.05 9. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Agro Adler-Brandenburg 7.05 10. Olivier Perrudeau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 7.05 11. Christiophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 7.05 12. Kirk O'Bee (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 7.05 13. Martin van Steen (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites 7.05 14. Aguado Rebollo (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 7.05 15. Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Pol) Sprandi 7.05 16. Aleksiej Siwakow (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93 7.05 17. Bartlomiej Ksobiak (Pol) Lukullus 7.05 18. Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mróz 7.05 19. Harald Morscher (Aut) Saeco-Cannondale 7.05 20. Arturas Trupauskas (Lit) Recer Boavista 7.05 89. Sebastian Wolski (Pol) Lukullus Ambra Opoka 7.05 Points: 1. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 32 2. Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mróz 28 3. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 27 Mountains: 1. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 5 2. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 3 3. Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole 2 Sprints: 1. Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 8 2. Cezary Zamana (Pol) Mróz 7 3. Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mróz 5 |