This year's Tour de Pologne may be less suited to pure climbers than before but defending champion Daniel Martin made the most of today’s hardest leg to take the stage win and the yellow jersey.
Martin attacked several times towards the end of the stage to Bukowina Tatrzańska, and finally cracked race leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) inside the final 500 metres. He caught and passed the Vacansoleil rider Wout Poels just before the line, reaching it one second clear of the Dutchman; he picked up the time bonus there, while Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) took third, four second back.
“I really gave it my all today,” Martin said after the finish. “I attacked in order to win the stage; the leader’s yellow jersey comes as quite a surprise. It will be hard to hang on to it tomorrow but let’s see what happens. Sagan is faster than me, but on our team we have Haussler, who can bust a good sprint, so we’ll see.
“Back to today, I’d say we were very lucky with the weather. It’s a nice victory, earned in a high level race with excellent riders in the line up.”
Sagan faded dramatically and came home sixteenth, 13 seconds behind. When the bonus was factored into the equation, Martin ended the day three seconds clear of his Slovakian rival, with Marcato on the same time in third.
It sets things up for a final day showdown, with the Garmin-Cervélo team needing to defend on a much flatter circuit and knowing that it must prevent Sagan and Marcato from taking the finishing bonus there.
The deposed race leader promises to fight onwards. “It was a hard stage,” he said. ”I did my best, but with just a few metres to go to the finish line I got cramps and I could no longer pedal with any force. Nothing is decided in the final classification yet, though. I’m only three seconds behind Martin. I’m going to go for the intermediate sprints and the final sprint on the arrival to try to reap a few seconds’ advantage.”
Martin was conscious that today was his final chance to take the race lead and was the most aggressive inside the final 15 kilometres. He attacked hard on the penultimate climb, opening a lead of several seconds and driving onwards towards the finish. A regrouping behind saw race leader Sagan’s team-mate Vincenzo Nibali drag the nearest chasers and then Martin back, bringing things together for the yellow jersey heading towards the finale.
Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) then clipped away and tore down the descent to hold a lead of eight seconds with five kilometres to go. US champion Matthew Busche (RadioShack) set off in pursuit inside the final four uphill kilometres but was caught, while Rutkiewicz and subsequent attacker Oliver Zaugg (Leopard Trek) also suffered the same fate.
At the same time, Martin was doing his utmost to drop Sagan, but was unable to shake off his big rival.
Going under the kilometre to go banner, Sky Procycling rider Steve Cummings took a flier and initially looked to have a big enough lead to take the stage. The road ramped up, however, and this enabled Poels to get across to him. Martin saw the time bonus slipping away from him and put in one last big effort; this one finally cracked Sagan, who slipped back dramatically while the Irishman pushed forward to nab the stage win and a yellow jersey he very much hopes to keep tomorrow.
Long tough day in the leads to action-filled finale:
After a very aggressive start, the break of the day settled into place with ten riders present. There was the inevitable Polish representation with Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat) and Michal Golaś (Vacansoleil) there; they were joined by Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Oscar Pujol (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank), Morris Possoni, (Sky Procycling), Thomas Rohregger (Leopard Trek), Simon Geschke (Skil Shimano), Nelson Oliveira (Radioshack) and Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (De Rosa).
They worked well together and built a five minute lead by the halfway point, but this had fallen to three minutes with 80 kilometres remaining. This continued to drop under the pressure exerted by Astana in the peloton, although it eased back sufficiently for the Quick Step rider David Malcarne to clip away and close to within one minute 45 seconds of the leaders with 50 kilometres left.
Didier cracked soon afterwards. Meanwhile Golas was feeling strong and turned the screw, causing Possoni and Ulissi to slip back. The Garmin-Cervélo team was driving the pace for Martin’s anticipated attack, and with 30 kilometres left, the leaders had just 50 seconds’ lead. Rohregger realised the danger and attacked alone.
His former breakaway companions lost pace and were caught 28 kilometres from the line; the lone leader succumbed three kilometres later.
The Saxo Bank SunGard team began to drive the pace along. The reason for this was not immediately clear, but then its Polish rider Jaroslaw Maryzc (Saxo Bank) surged clear on a descent. He held a small advantage at the start of the third-last climb, and pushed hard to try to stay clear.
However his chances of doing so were hampered by the big GC battle being waged behind. Team RadioShack rider Geoffroy Lequatre attacked 15 kilometres from the line, but both were reeled in by Sky Procycling. The British team ramped up the pace for its rider Peter Kennaugh, putting pressure on race leader Peter Sagan, who started to slip back. Martin knew it was time to go and kicked hard on the steepest section to stretch things right out.
Kennaugh rode strongly and initially stayed with the Birmingham-born Irishman, but a gap gradually opened and Martin went over the summit with several seconds’ lead. He was clearly the strongest climber, but his chances of staying clear were affected by the downhill and flat sections which followed.
Defending champion against chasing bunch:
Sagan had dropped back to one of the chasing groups on the climb, but with the help of his Liquigas-Cannondale team-mate Vincenzo Nibali, he gradually made his way back up and together they joined the first chase group.
Nibali continued to work well and eventually led that group up to Martin who, realising he was going to be caught, appeared to ease off the pedals to wait until the final climb. He was reeled in with approximately ten kilometres to go; Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) then took advantage of a slight lull to strike out alone and try to build a sufficient advantage before the final climb.
He reached speeds of 100 kilometres per hour on the descent and had an eight second lead with five kilometres to go. US champion Matthew Busche set off in pursuit approximately a minute later, and was five seconds back with three kilometres to go.
He was however caught and passed by Zaugg, who got up to the leader. A little further back, Martin put in a few good digs but was marked each time by a determined Sagan. The Liqugas-Cannondale rider isn’t a pure climber but was putting in a strong defence, giving the impression that he could cover everything thrown at him.
Zaugg and Rutkiewicz were reeled in, then Zaugg went again. However going into the final kilometres Steve Cummings (Sky Procycling) moved to the front, attacking to get a gap. The others stalled, enabling Cummings to build his advantage. It looked like he was sufficiently clear to take the stage win, but the road kicked back up again inside the final 500 metres.
Vacansoleil’s Wout Poels then attacked hard, overtaking the Briton, and then Martin kicked hard. He was determined to go for the stage win and take the ten second bonus, but didn’t expect Sagan to finally crack and to dramatically slip backwards. The Irishman caught and passed Poels, nabbing the victory, while the Slovakian rider faded to place sixteenth, thirteen seconds behind. Once the calculations were done, that put Martin into the yellow jersey by three seconds ahead of Sagan and Marcato.
He’s where he wants to be heading into the final stage, although with the terrain in Krakow being much flatter, he’d undoubtedly prefer a bigger buffer. His Garmin-Cervélo team will work hard to try to hang on, knowing that 128 kilometres, the intermediate sprint plus the finishing gallop stand between Martin and his second successive victory in the race. The time bonuses will given Sagan hope but, as Martin showed today, he will fight all the way.