Jonathan Milan powers past Paul Magnier to win Tour de Pologne opener

The opening stage of the Tour de Pologne was won by Jonathan Milan. The Lidl-Trek Italian champion was the strongest in the flat stage, beating Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step and EF Education-EasyPost’s Noah Hobbs, who claimed the other two podium places. Milan also became the race’s first overall leader.

With the Tour de France over and the Vuelta a España still to come, it was time for racing in Poland. The week-long WorldTour race is regarded as an important preparation event for the Spanish Grand Tour, although the biggest names are increasingly choosing the Vuelta a Burgos instead. There was no reason to worry, however, as plenty of top riders were present, particularly for the opening stage.

It was a flat stage between Gdynia and Koszalyn. It was one for the sprinters, and with Milan, Magnier and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Jordi Meeus on the start line, there were plenty of fast men who fancied their chances. They initially remained calm in the peloton as an early breakaway formed up the road. Bart Lemmen gave the Netherlands representation in the move.

The climber was joined by Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ, Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla, Simon Dalby of Uno-X Mobility, Kamil Małecki of Pinarello-Q36.5 and Radosław Frątczak of the Polish national team. At 234 kilometres, the opening stage was extremely long, and halfway through the race Molard decided to spend the remainder of the day in the peloton.

That left the five remaining riders to continue at the front. It remained a quiet day, with the peloton comfortably controlling the breakaway. Lidl-Trek and Soudal Quick-Step put riders on the front and gradually began to close the gap. With 50 kilometres remaining, the advantage had consequently fallen to around a minute and a half.

Lemmen hoped for greater cooperation but saw his plan at the front fall apart. The final breakaway riders were caught by the peloton with 15 kilometres remaining. A short climb still awaited inside the final ten kilometres, but Dries De Bondt accelerated before the riders reached that obstacle. The Jayco AlUla Belgian opened a useful advantage but was caught by the peloton inside the final five kilometres.

It was then time to wait for the sprint. Picnic PostNL and Decathlon CMA CGM had established strong lead-out trains, but the leading favourites remained patient for a little longer. After the final corner, Marijn van den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost began his lead-out for Noah Hobbs, but Jonathan Milan powered past him. Magnier could not find a way around the Italian.