Stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne has seen Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) take a clear bunch sprint victory after a crash-marred finale at Poznan motor-racing circuit.
After heavy rain showers and hailstorms briefly blasted the race late on and saw several riders fall in the closing kilometres, Merlier headed a reduced lead group of sprinters into the finishing straight.
The Belgian powered down the right-hand side of the motor finishing straight to win by over a bike length ahead of Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) with Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) in third.
With times for GC taken four kilometres from the line, Merlier’s victory, the 30th of his career, puts him in the lead for Sunday’s mountainous stage and challenging uphill finish at Karpacz.
More to come…
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