Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) got himself into the mix for stage victory on the opening stage at Tour de Pologne, but went too early and faded a little before the line. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) came off his Irish rival's wheel to win the day.
The stage - 183.7km starting and and finishing in Poznań - was run off in wet and windy conditions, and with the finish on a motor racing circuit, there were plenty of crashes. Bennett looked like he was on his own at the front of the reduced peloton as the finish approached, with no lead-out resources around him.
And while he got to the head of the group, and tagged onto the back of the Soudal-QuickStep train, Merlier was behind him and effectively used Bennett as a final lead-out man. While the Irish rider kicked for the line with about 200m to go, he made his move a little early, leaving Merlier with time to stay tucked in behind him before pulling the trigger to win.
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In the end, Bennett had to be content with 4th place on the day, with Merlier topping the podium from Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team).
At the time of writing it looked like Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) may have been delayed by one of the late crashes, which included an incident with about 6km to go and another on the moto circuit much closer to the finish. He finished 75th at 1:59.
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We'll bring you firmer news on that immediately we have it. Ryan Mullen of Bora-hansgrohe was 35th at 17 seconds.
More to come.
