In winning position, Kelderman is again hindered by bad luck! Vingegaard takes yellow, Wellens wins the stage

Tim Wellens impressively won the time trial at the Tour of Poland. The Belgian champion gave everything he had and was the fastest in the uphill Chrono. Jonas Vingegaard finished second and is the new leader of the stage race, as he gained enough time to push Thibau Nys out of the yellow jersey. Wilco Kelderman was on his way to a top time but fell in the last minutes and still finished in the top five.

Local rider Kacper Gieryk set the first significant result in the tricky time trial this Tuesday. The chrono went up to the end, and the final kilometer was quite steep. Filip Maciejuk then pushed his compatriot out of the hot seat by a considerable margin, the rider from Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe raising the bar for the rest: 25.17. At least for those who were up for it today. Many riders were visibly taking it easy.

Good old Romain Bardet struggles to a fast chrono, Wellens with a fantastic finish time

As the riders squeezed uphill in the warm Polish sun, we saw one rider in the middle section cruising nicely uphill. It was Romain Bardet, who was not always an excellent time trial rider, visibly giving his all. And he was rewarded. The Frenchman, riding one of his last races in Poland, clocked the best time: 25.03. He could visibly enjoy it afterward.

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From a Dutch perspective, Pepijn Reinderink set a solid time, riding to 25.24. Time trial contender Remi Cavagna also beat the time of Bardet, who had set a strong time. The same applied to Tobias Foss, who was also several dozen seconds short. How different it was for Tim Wellens. The Belgian champion had chosen his day, rode fiercely to the finish, and finished no less than a minute (!) faster than Bardet: 24.01. Men like Oscar Onley, who were aiming for a classification in Poland, performed well by finishing just behind Wellens.

A crash ruined Kelderman's chances of winning the stage, and Vingegaard took yellow

Around 16:15, Jonas Vingegaard started his mission, and Wilco Kelderman and yellow jersey wearer Thibau Nys were also close to the finish. Kelderman had - how could it almost be otherwise - lousy luck along the way. He crashed in a corner in a very unfortunate way, had to change bikes, and saw his chances of victory dwindle. Unbelievable, but true: again, unfortunate for the Dutchman.

Vingegaard also rode a solid time but could not get past Wellens. He finished ten seconds behind the Belgian. Kelderman also did very well and finished—with bad luck—forty seconds behind Wellens, but he still did excellent business for the GC. Thibau Nys could not set a top time and allowed himself to be caught on the final climb. This earned Vingegaard the leader's jersey, and Wellens could enjoy his excellent time trial victory.

Results stage 2 Tour of Poland 2024

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