The moment of disaster as a line of riders falls across the road and those behind charge into them in the Tour of Poland sprint finish.
Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling may have been delighted with his win on stage 2 of the Tour of Poland on Monday, but it was the sprint finish crash that will linger longest in the memory.
As the mass gallop was moving into full gas mode in the last couple of hundred metres, Caleb Ewan of Orica GreenEdge fell at the front of the field.
The young Australian, who was 2nd to Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) on Sunday's opening stage, appeared to pull his foot out of the pedal, causing him to fall into those beside him.
The ripple of the crash whipped across the road in an instant, with its full width blocked by the fallers.
Advertisement
It meant the entire field - save for nine riders at the front who escaped the smash - were all forced to a halt and taken out of the finale, resulting in extraordinary scenes in Dabrowa Górnicza.
Pelucchi took victory from Kittel, who retains his yellow jersey, with Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing 3rd on the stage.
Ireland's only rider in the race, Philip Deignan, has come home in the main field on stage 1 and stage 2 and is just 24 seconds down in Kittel overall.
The Team Sky rider from Donegal was 7th in this race last year.
He is making his racing return after suffering a fractured elbow at the National Road Race Championships at the end of June and will relish the hillier stages later in the week.
Related News
Tour of Poland stage 2 crash
Stage 2: Czestochowa - Dabrowa Górnicza (146km)
1 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling 3:20:12
2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
4 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
6 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida
7 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
8 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Cannondale-Garmin
9 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
10 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
General Classification
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 6:03:09
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:10
3 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:12
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
5 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:00:13
6 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:16
7 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
9 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
10 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ.fr
118 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:24
Topics
