Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) repeated his stage one triumph with victory in the second stage of the Tour de Pologne, the Tour of Poland, between Czestochowa and Dabrowa Gornicza. The 23-year-old German sprinter burst from the highly depleted peloton inside the final hundred metres to win by several lengths over Australian pair Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank).
"I’m thrilled," said Kittel afterwards. "I was already happy for yesterday’s victory and to manage a replay on this finish line today is really an indescribable joy.
"Once again today I must thank my team mates for having set me up in the perfect conditions to go for an excellent final sprint," he continued. "I feel like I’m in really good shape so I’m definitely going to try to wear this jersey for as long as possible. The jersey for the points’ classification represents an important objective.
"I’m going to try to get the most out of this Tour de Pologne."
The sprint came from a group of only around thirty riders after a crash with two kilometres to go delayed most of the peloton. Since the crash happened inside the final three kilometres all riders were given the same time as the stage winner, but Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) and Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) came down heavily and did not finish the stage.
The 159.6km stage was dominated by a breakaway from Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat-Polkowice), Pierre Cazaux Euskaltel-Euskadi, Paolo Bailetti (De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia) and Adrian Kurek (Polish National Team). Matysiak, Cazaux and Kurek were three of the six-man group on stage one and, with Bailetti, they escaped in the early kilometres of the stage and managed to build a maximum lead of almost five minutes.
Between them the four riders swallowed up all of the mountain and intermediate sprint points. Matysiak took both climbs and, with them, enough points to secure the jersey after the stage, while two wins and a second place in the three sprints netted Kurek the sprints jersey and enough bonus seconds to put him in the virtual lead.
If Kittel was to hold on to the lead he would have to take some bonus seconds on the finish line.
As the breakaway riders headed towards the finishing circuit, where the race would take in four 5.6km circuits, its lead had been slashed and capture looked imminent. With Omega Pharma-Lotto and Quick Step on the front of the peloton they were getting closer and closer and, with 16.8km – three laps to go – they had just 28 seconds.
With the peloton gaining Kurek and Cazaux sat up; Matysiak and Bailetti held on for a little longer but they two were swallowed up just before they reached the line with two laps to go.
Marc De Maar (Quick Step) led the peloton in his Curaçao champion’s jersey but, into the final 10km, Omega Pharma-Lotto and HTC-Highroad took over. BMC Racing and Vacansoleil-DCM were both lurking with Kittel staying close to the front. Rick Flens (Rabobank) muscled his way to the front, then Katusha took over as they took the bell.
With 3km to go Rabobank took over again but with 2km to go a massive crash hit the front of the peloton. A lot of riders came down in the crash, and even more were delayed, with only around thirty riders escaping unaffected.
Saxo Bank-SunGard pulled the peloton into the final kilometre, then HTC-Highroad took over, but no team had enough men left to be able to take real control.
Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad) led out John Degenkolb, but Haussler launched his sprint first. The stage looked to be going down to a head to head battle between the two of them but, as Degenkolb faded, Kittel launched himself from the front of the peloton and left the rest in his wake.
Ten seconds bonus on the line meant that Kittel held on to the jersey, with Kurek just seven seconds behind.
Result stage 2
1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil-Shimano
2. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Cervélo
3. Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
4. Caleb Fairly (USA) HTC-Highroad
5. John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad
6. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
7. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank-SunGard
8. Leigh Howard (Aus) HTC-Highroad
9. Adam Blythe (GBr) Omega Pharma-Lotto
10. Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Quick Step
Standings after stage 2
1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil-Shimano
2. Adrian Kurek (Pol) Polish National Team @ 7s
3. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Cervélo @ 14s
4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing
5. Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat-Polkowice @ 15s