A good number of riders made their return to racing at this 72th Tour of Poland.  For Marcel Kittel (Giant - Alpecin), his performance could even be considered a smashing comeback.  After having suffered from the effects of a virus since early in the season, the German sprinter won his first major race of the year by beating Caleb Ewan (Orica - GreenEDGE) and Niccolo Bonifazio (Lampre - Merida) to the line. 

But luck did not smile on everyone in the pack.  On this circuit race around Warsaw, Matteo Pelucchi, IAM Cycling’s main protected rider for this first stage, found himself on the ground with three laps to go, along with his teammate Larry Warbasse.  This incident prevented the Italian sprinter from having the firepower he needed to contest this stage.

Larry Warbasse joined Pelucchi in the tumble.  Still wearing his torn jersey just after crossing the finish line, the American rider explained how he crashed, and tried to be reassuring about his health. 

“It’s a shame because I was to place Matteo Pelucchi near the front of the pack again.  It was just at the foot of the climb, just before the road becomes a little narrower and technical. And in the turn, I started to get out of the saddle and I do not know why, but my hand slipped.  I missed my handlebars and the chain jumped.  A crash is never a welcomed thing, and this one was especially ill-timed since I had Matteo on my wheel.  We crashed together.  Fortunately for us, this was a crash without any big injury.  My leg and hip are beat up a bit, but hopefully it is nothing serious.”

This unfortunate incident, though not a huge issue, did manage to scuttle the team’s plans to play for the victory in a stage that suited its sprinter.  In any case, Rubens Bertogliatti, directeur sportif for the Swiss team at the Polish race along with Marcello Albasini, was pleased with the team and the solidarity that he has witnessed on this first day. 

“Our goal was to get Matteo well-placed in the contest for the sprint win.  Unfortunately, he did not have amazing legs today, and then the crash really took it out of him.  But I am happy with the work the team was able to do.  The final was not easy with the climbs and the cobbles, and on top of that, many of our riders haven’t raced for quite a while.  Despite all this, we saw the guys repeatedly doing good work at the front.  This promises to earn us some strong results in the next stages, I am sure.”