Jonas Vingegaard sealed overall victory at the Tour de Pologne after he finished safely in the peloton stage 7 to Krakow, which was won by his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Olav Kooij in a bunch sprint.
Kooij delivered a well-judged effort in the finishing straight to claim the stage honours ahead of Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert). In an unruly bunch finish, Kooij bided his time before coming off Thijssen’s wheel within sight of the line and holding off the fast-finishing Merlier.
It was Kooij’s second sprint win of the week and his seventh victory of a season that included a triumph in Naples on his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia.
Sunday’s flat final stage from Wieliczka to Krakow was always liable to yield a bunch sprint but that didn’t deter an enterprising group of four riders from spending the bulk of the day off the front.
Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) has caught the eye every time the road climbed this week in Poland and the Irishman opted to go on the offensive once again on Sunday despite terrain that was hardly suited to his gifts.
Ryan was joined in the break by Jack Rootkin-Gray, Rémi Cavagna (Movistar) and Marcin Budziński (Poland), and the quartet struck a decent working relationship to stay clear onto the three laps of the 5km finishing circuit around Krakow.
By then, a bunch sprint was inevitable, but Ryan and Budziński battled gamely to stay clear until midway through the final lap. From there, the sprinters’ teams took up the reins, even if no single team could control affairs.
DSM-Firmenich-PostNL had numbers in support of Casper van Uden, but he had to settle for fourth as his fellow Dutchman Kooij scorched to a clear victory.
Vingegaard had an untroubled final afternoon of racing, and the Dane was happy to play his part in helping Visma-Lease a Bike tee up a bunch finish for Kooij.
In the final overall standings, Vingegaard finished 13 seconds clear of Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and 20 ahead of his Visma teammate Wilco Kelderman.
The Tour de Pologne is Vingegaard’s third stage race victory of the season following his triumphs at O Gran Camiño and Tirreno-Adriatico earlier in the year.
Vingegaard’s season was interrupted by the serious injuries he sustained in a mass crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April, but he returned in time to win a stage and finish on the podium of the Tour de France last month.
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