Tour de Pologne 2021 – Stage 3 Preview
By David Hunter
Sanok > Rzeszów 226km
Okay, who’s idea was it to have a 226km sprint stage?
With Deceuninck – Quick Step and Bahrain likely to control the morning break this should be a nailed-on sprint. The stage contains 2835m of climbing, but the vast majority of this comes in the opening half of the stage. Will we see some of the GC make the opening of the race hard for the sprinters? I would seriously doubt it, but there is a small chance.
The most likely scenario is a relatively weak break establishes early in the stage and everyone simply sits in and waits for the sprint finish.
Weather
Another nice day for the bunch.
Finale
Nice and easy. We have large roads and a few corners to help stretch things out. Those with the good sprint trains will have the best chance of taking the win.
Contenders
Phil Bauhaus – his win in the opening stage was a real show of power, it was very impressive. With Sieberg, Mohorič and Haussler to help him in the closing kilometres the German will be confident of taking another win in this stage. 2021 has seen him return to his old levels, with confidence flowing he’ll be a hard man to beat.
Álvaro Hodeg – went for a long one on Monday, I don’t mind that at all. It was good to see the Colombian taking a risk and going all in for the win. Okay, it didn’t work out, but at least he tried. His sprint train isn’t his normal one, but they still did a great job on Monday, I would expect something similar in this stage. When you have someone like Cavagna to hit the front in the final 2km you always have a great chance of starting the sprint from the front.
Edward Theuns – 4th in the opening stage was a decent result considering where he started the sprint. Trek-Segafredo only have six men at the race, but they do possess a lot of TT power, which is good for this type of finish. If Mullen and Liepinš get it right, then Eddie can start the sprint from a good spot and see if he can repeat his success from the Tour de Hongrie.
Olav Kooij – with Jumbo-Visma looking to rotate their fast men this week I would imagine it’s the turn of the youngster. Just 19 years old, but what a talent he is. Kooij has a blistering turn of pace, but the team must do a lot better in terms of positioning in the final kilometres.
Kaden Groves – another youngster who’s been knocking on the door, but he’s yet to land his first big win. He has the speed required to win stages like this, but he’s often left in a poor position as BikeExchange don’t have the riders required to form a proper sprint train. Having just one or two riders just isn’t good enough when you come up against the likes of Quick Step.
Fernando Gaviria – I’m starting to lose all faith in Nando, he could really do with a confidence boosting win, but I just don’t see it.
Jake Stewart – he prefers a harder stage, but he’ll still give it a go in this stage. The problem is his sprint train, it’s not good enough for a race like this.
Prediction Time
It’s likely going to be another fight between Bauhaus and Hodeg for the win, this time I think we’ll see Álvaro Hodeg cross the line first.
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