Despite doing his first major stage race since he underwent heart surgery, Robert Gesink has made such a strong impression that he is the clear Belkin leader in the Tour de Pologne. The Dutch team is fully supporting their GC rider while sprinter Theo Bos is not yet strong enough to get too much attention.

Robert Gesink maintained himself easily in the pack in the second stage of the Tour de Pologne today. After the 226-kilometre stage, the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM rider arrived in 39th in Warsaw. 

“Robert is looking good,” said Sports Director Michiel Elijzen. “He’s truly in the race and stayed out of harm’s way pretty easily. That’s what counts on days like today. In the run-up to the local laps, we moved to the front with the team so that Robert was able to start the final in a good position. That went according to plan.” 
 

Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s Petr Vakoc won in Warsaw after an attack of over 200 kilometres. From an escape with two others, he was the only one who was able to hold on. On the line he had a 21-second gap on the pack that gave him the race lead, as well. 

Theo Bos didn’t bother with the bunch sprint for second place. The Dutchman placed up 50th. 

“The leaders were within range for a long time, but suddenly the gap increased from four to seven minutes,” said Elijzen. “After that it became hard to catch Vakoc. Several teams tried to chase him down, but unsuccessfully. We didn’t take the initiative as Theo at the moment isn’t good enough to ask all of our riders work for him.” 
 

Belkin won’t focus on the sprint in the third stage Tuesday.

“The sprint teams will be regretting that they missed out on the sprint today and I expect there will be several teams that will work for a sprint tomorrow. We’ll mainly focus on the overall with Robert because we believe that there’s more to gain there than in the sprints.”