World champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) outsprinted Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) to claim victory in stage 2 at Tour of Poland.
The second stage of the Polish race was 151.5 kilometres long between Opole and Zabrze over a rolling route that included one climb of the second category. Trek-Segafredo took control of the pack during the last kilometres of the day and Pedersen launched a strong sprint at 250 metres from the finish line to take the win.
“First of all, I would like to dedicate this victory to Jakobsen after his crash yesterday. I am super happy to dedicate it to him, [I wish] him a fast recovery, a comeback to life, to cycling”, Pedersen said.
“We had a strategy from the beginning that we should do the sprint for me. Man, the team did a perfect job and I could finish it off. I don’t know how it went behind me with Ackermann but it was just enough to keep him behind at the finish line. I am super happy to take the win in the jersey and show the team that I’m back in shape and back to racing strong,” he added.
Pedersen now leads the general classification by four seconds, ahead of both Ackermann and Kamil Malecki (CCC).
.@Mads__Pedersen venceu a segunda etapa do @Tour_de_Pologne. #tdp20 pic.twitter.com/pyVoF24cki
— País do Ciclismo (@DoCiclismo) August 6, 2020
Tour of Poland 2020 – stage 2 results (Opole – Zabrze):
| 1 | Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) | 3:26:02 |
| 2 | Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 4 | Rudy Barbier (Israel Start-Up Nation) | ,, |
| 5 | Alberto Dainese (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Albert Torres (Movistar) | ,, |
| 7 | Szymon Sajnok (CCC) | ,, |
| 8 | Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 9 | Piet Allegaert (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 10 | Jurgen Roelandts (Movistar) | ,, |
Tour of Poland 2020 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) | 7:57:42 |
| 2 | Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +04” |
| 3 | Kamil Malecki (CCC) | ,, |
| 4 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | +06” |
| 5 | Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 6 | Wout Poels (Bahrain McLaren) | +09” |
| 7 | Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) | +10” |
| 8 | Szymon Sajnok (CCC) | ,, |
| 9 | Alberto Dainese (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 10 | Mark Cavendish (Bahrain McLaren) | ,, |
