The 7-stage WorldTour race Tour de Pologne was opened with a 122 km stage which was made up of 10 laps of a 12.2 km circuit in Warszaw with only one hill which was followed by a series of bends, the last one at less than 100m from the finish line.
After a three-rider breakaway had been neutralized 20km from the finish, the sprint teams began to battle in support of their lead-out men to allow them to get to the front positions. For LAMPRE-MERIDA, Mori, Ferrari and Modolo started to move to the front to lead out Niccolo Bonifazio, who approached the climb just behind the Giant-Alpecin lead-out train. The Italian sprinter had no problem in defending his position on the hill and he entered the last bend a few meters behind Kittel and Ewan. Using his technical skills, Bonifazio reduced the gap to the leading duo, but he could not overtake them, finishing the stage in 3rd position.
"The team gave me the opportunity to be the captain in today's sprint. I appreciated this and I really liked the support that my team mates gave me for the sprint," Bonifazio explained. When we began to organize the approach to the sprint, our ability to get to the front was good, Ferrari and Modolo were great in protecting me from the wind. I made a pair of mistakes and I lost the wheel of Sacha, thus wasting energy, but I succeeded in being in the front position after the climb.
"Kittel was some meters ahead me before the final bend, I tried to take it at maximum speed, but it wan not enough to pass him. My goal was the victory but, if I consider the value of Kittel and Ewan, this third place is good."
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