Marcel Kittel managed to avoid a late crash at the front of the peloton to save a close second place on the line in today’s bunch sprint at the Tour de Pologne, and with the result he conserves his overall race lead going into the third day of racing.

The stage as expected came down to a bunch sprint with Team Giant-Alpecin helping to control the peloton in defence of Kittel's yellow jersey and to race for a sprint at the end of the day. A four rider breakaway moved clear but with 35km to race their lead was down to just a minute and their chances of staying away looked very slim.

As the pace picked up in the final 20km the race came back together and the front of the peloton saw a change of formation as the sprinters teams started to line up, racing for the 180 degree turn in the final three kilometres. Team Giant-Alpecin came through this in a good position with Kittel in the front but as the race turned into the finishing straight a heavy fall at the front of the race took down many riders at the front of the race, including a few Team Giant-Alpecin jerseys.

Kittel was able to right himself and just avoid the carnage, but after having to slow his speed he was unable to reach the front before the line, leaving him in a close second place.

After the stage, coach Aike Visbeek said: “The plan was to pass on the left side in the final kilometres if we were not in front, but GreenEDGE had the same idea and we were a bit blocked in our lead-out. Marcel did well to find some space on the right hand side but the crash slowed him slightly which was unfortunate as the guys worked really hard today.

“Marcel is still in the lead and tomorrow is another day for us to fight for the stage win again. Lawson [Craddock] came down in the crash but he’s OK and bounce back for tomorrow’s stage.”

“I wanted to win today and I think I was still the fastest in the sprint finish but I had to avoid the crash on my right. They fell into my front wheel, so that took a few seconds where I couldn’t accelerate," Kittel said. "Then as soon as I could start my sprint again, Pelucchi came from the left into my handlebars and that took again a second where I couldn’t push my pedals. In the end there wasn’t enough time to pass him.

"I said to Pelucchi after the finish that he has to hold his line. It’s not ok to swerve so much to the right, but it’s ok, it’s a sprint, it’s full of emotions and also the crash happened. I was lucky to avoid it and I thought I could still go for the win. I think it was in my legs today.

"As a team we did it in a really good way, we could have been a bit more at the front in last 1.5km but that was not necessarily a problem, it was just very hectic and I guess that happens, that’s part of sprinting. Now I have to move on, we have to move on as a team, and we look to tomorrow."