Lotto Belisol leaves the Tour de Pologne with mixed emotions. While Maxime Monfort didn't live up to expectations in the GC battle, Jonas Vangenechten took a surprise win in one of the sprint stage and Boris Vallee showed potential by mixing it up in another couple of bunch sprints.
An individual time trial of 25 kilometers with start and finish in Krakow was the last test at the Tour de Pologne. Rafal Majka successfully defended his leader's jersey. The stage win was for Belgian time trial champion Kristof Vandewalle.
Lotto Belisol returns home with one victory. Jonas Van Genechten was the fastest in the bunch sprint on Wednesday. the second time he could triumph this season after Gullegem Koerse. Vangenechten also collected several top ten results this year. On Tuesday he became eighth in the sprint won by Theo Bos, a place he also conquered in the opening stage of the Tour of Turkey. Vangenechten took a seventh place twice in the Tour de Suisse and a fourth place in the second stage of the Tour of Austria.
Boris Vallée rode a remarkable Tour de Pologne as well, with the seventh place in the first stage and a nice third place the day after. He got second in the sprint of the peloton then behind Michael Matthews, only Petr Vakoc had survived from an early breakaway.
"We had a successful Tour de Pologne when you look at the stage results," sports director Jean-Pierre Heynderickx said. "We expected more from the GC. Maxime Monfort still misses some competition rhythm after his crash in the Tour de Suisse. This was only his second race since his comeback in the Tour de Wallonie. I have faith he will be top by the time the Vuelta begins.
"Sander Armée had to abandon because of stomach problems. Bart De Clercq, who had to abandon the Tour due to the consequences of a crash, gave a better impression each day."
"The team conquered a stage win in this WorldTour race. We were just waiting for Jonas Van Genechten to win a second time this season. Fantastic that this happened in the WorldTour, where he could beat big names. The whole team played an important part in that stage win. Boris Vallée did great efforts again here in Poland. He attacked and participated in the sprints."
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Christophe PREMONT 35 years | today |
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