Crash disrupts Tour de Pologne stage 2
A big crash in the last kilometre of the Tour de Pologne stage two meant that Tom Van Asbroeck and Dennis van Winden weren’t able to deliver on Monday. Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) survived the crash and won the stage.
“It’s a big disappointment, but everything’s fine, physically,” sports director, Mathieu Heijboer said about the crash in which Tom Van Asbroeck and Dennis van Winden were involved.
“Tom was in a better position than he was yesterday, but with the crash in the front of the bunch, you can’t do anything.
Martijn Keizer was part of the breakaway earlier in the stage. “It was hard for the breakaway to make it until the end," Heijboer added. “Team Giant-Alpecin took over quickly. The gap was never more than two minutes, which made it hopeless. If you don’t try, you won’t win for sure.”
Setback
It was about waiting for the bunch sprint, and Van Asbroeck wanted his chance. “I was well placed," he explained. “My team-mates led me out perfectly and I chose the slipstream of the Orica GreenEDGE train. That’s where it went wrong because their sprinter crashed. I couldn’t do anything. When you look at the physical damage, it’s not too serious, but it’s bad for my morale. I’ve never had so many setbacks in my career as I've had this season.”
Van Asbroeck is looking forward to the third stage, though. The quick Belgian went for a ride on rollers after the race to reduce the soreness of his muscles. “Tomorrow is another chance. When the feeling is there and the soreness is not too much, we can go for it again.”
