Tour of Poland 2014 – Stage 2 Preview

By David Hunter

Stage 1 Recap

Possibly the craziest day of racing I’ve ever seen. A lightning strike or high wind, brought down a tree. The wind almost forced the break to stop riding and we got hail as big as golf balls. Despite all this the riders had to race on. The finishing circuit contained many icy corners and most of the peloton seemed to fall. To match the crazy stage we had a crazy sprint! Mezgec decided to take on the barriers and from the chaos, it was Hutarovich who emerged victorious. If that wasn’t enough of a surprise for you look at the names in second and third: Maikin and Mori!

Stage 2 Torun – Warszawa 226km

Another monster day in the saddle!

In store for the riders is a very flat looking profile. Again, we end with a closing circuit with many corners.

Take a look at that nasty looking corner with 500 metres to go. The good new is that it should be sunny!

The sprint on stage 1 holds no relevance as it was so difficult. What we can take from it is that Mezgec will be sore after his crash, so Arndt might get to sprint.

Sacha Modolo took it easy at the end of the stage but was looking to stay at the front of the peloton for most of the day. This suggests that he is fit and healthy and back in form. Ducking out the sprint was purely to protect himself. The main problem for Sacha is that Richeze is not here. The good news is, he is the master of the messy sprint! The late corner means this will be a messy affair.

Theo Bos, my pick for stage 1, found himself boxed in and couldn’t sprint. He lacks a “pilot” which is a big problem for him.

Hutarovich took an excellent win in stage 1. This will give him a huge confidence boost and I expect him to challenge again.

With so many crashes happening in stage 1, it is virtually impossible to predict stage 2, but I’ll try.

Prediction time….

Messy sprint = Sacha Modolo.

David Hunter

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