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Dramatic crash ends stage two of the Tour of Poland

Dozens of riders went down hard and only nine remained in the saddle for Monday's stage two sprint finish during the Tour of Poland, after Caleb Ewan, riding for Orica-GreenEdge, took a nasty fall -- along with many, many others.

August 4, 2015
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Dozens of riders went down hard and only nine remained in the saddle for Monday’s stage two sprint finish during the Tour of Poland, after Caleb Ewan, riding for Orica-GreenEdge, took a nasty fall in the last three kilometres of the 146 km route from Czestochowa to Dabrowa Gornicza  — along with many, many others. Surprisingly, though, no serious injuries were reported by race organizers as a result of the calamitous wipeout.

You wouldn’t think as much to see the accident happen, tough.

Ewan, from Australia, made contact with Sacha Modolo of Lampre-Merida as the group powered towards the finish, which in turn caused him to touch wheels with Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing, throwing off Ewan’s balance. Luckily for Modolo and Nizzolo, only Ewan crashed out, but in a manner that caused the entire bunch to crash behind him, too.

The crash happened as the race tempo was at its peak. It followed the peloton’s reeling in of an escape by Sander Armee, Kamil Gradek, Adrian Kurek, Marcus Burghart and Martjin Keizer — a chase that kept the escape group’s advantage under two minutes, until they were caught in the last 20 km — and a changed dynamic that put Orica-GreenEdge, Ewan among them, out in front.  Some weren’t brought down by colliding with the Australian rider directly, but lost control in their skidding, high-speed efforts to avoid the carnage ahead of them, flipping over their handlebars and piling into a mass of downed cyclists.

Italy’s Matteo Pelucci, riding for IAM Cycling, finished first with a time of 3:20:12. In second and third place was Marcel Kittel of Team Giant – Alpecin and Nizzolo, with Kittel retaining the leader’s jersey. Since the race’s hair-raising crash happened in the stage’s last three kilometres, every rider involved in the chaotic pile-up or held up by it received the winner’s time,  while Ewan remains second in overall classification.

Next up for the Tour of Poland is a 166 km stage three route from Zawiercie to Katowice — one more opportunity for the sprinters before the race terrain makes it a climber’s event.