Jonathan Milan dominates Paul Magnier again to win Tour de Pologne stage 2

The second stage of the Tour de Pologne was won by Jonathan Milan. The Lidl-Trek rider claimed his second consecutive victory while wearing the yellow leader’s jersey, launching his sprint from the perfect position. He finished several bike lengths ahead of Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step, while XDS Astana’s Matteo Malucelli took third place.

The Tour de Pologne began with a relatively flat stage that ended in a bunch sprint after several short climbs. Milan proved too strong for fellow pre-race favourite Magnier in that opening contest. The Italian champion was therefore able to swap his green, white and red national champion’s jersey for the race leader’s yellow jersey — and he was immediately presented with another opportunity to win.

Stage 2 was comfortably the easiest day of the entire race. The 150-kilometre route featured only 579 metres of elevation gain, making another bunch sprint seem almost inevitable. Visma | Lease a Bike had not brought a sprinter to Poland and consequently went on the attack for the second consecutive day. After Bart Lemmen had joined the breakaway on Monday, it was Anton Schiffer’s turn to represent the Dutch team at the front.

The German was joined in the breakaway by Jonas Rutsch of Lotto-Intermarché and Polish national team riders Patryk Stosz and Radosław Frątczak. Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek quickly began controlling the pace and never allowed the leaders’ advantage to grow beyond two minutes. With the television coverage starting early, the escapees were therefore mainly collecting valuable exposure at the front of the race.

With 30 kilometres remaining, the gap had fallen to just 30 seconds. Stosz dropped back from the breakaway, but Dries De Bondt moved in the opposite direction. Wearing the mountains jersey, the Jayco AlUla rider bridged across to the leaders. His effort ultimately came to nothing, however, as the final breakaway riders were caught with 15 kilometres to go. A complete peloton headed towards the finish together.

The race remained calm for most of the run-in, although a sharp right-angle corner awaited just 400 metres from the line. Everyone knew the battle for position would become nervous, and the riders effectively sprinted towards the corner. Yellow jersey Milan entered it in the ideal position before launching his sprint with 200 metres remaining. Once again, the powerful Italian defeated Magnier by several bike lengths to secure a commanding second victory in as many days.