CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Daniel Skerl was in the mix for the victory once again yesterday in the third stage of the 83rd Tour de Pologne in Poland.
Skerl was part of a large group in a sprint to the finish as he finished for the second straight day at the end of the 193.5-kilometre leg.
Skerl’s fellow-Italian Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek was the victor yet again, continuing his streak and adding to his triumphs in the first two stages. He finished yesterday’s leg in four hours 11 minutes and 51 seconds, keeping his place at the front of the peloton heading into today’s midway point of the seven-stage elite men’s road race.
Amongst Bahrain Victorious’ other team members in stage three, Slovenian Matevz Govekar finished 32nd, Italians Alessandro Borgo and Edoardo Zambanini were 56th and 67th, respectively, Colombian Santiago Buitrago was 87th, Slovenian Roman Ermakov finished 106th, and Belgian Alec Segaert came home 122nd.
Following yesterday’s result, Govekar remained Bahrain Victorious’ best-ranked rider in the general classification (GC) although he dropped two places to 31st, while Skerl climbed an impressive 13 spots to 35th. Skerl also rose five spots to seventh in the points rankings, while Bahrain Victorious remained ninth in the teams’ standings.
This year’s Tour de Pologne started on the Baltic coast before travelling south along the country’s western side. It will finish with an individual time trial on Sunday near Krakow.
The race is composed of a total of 1,110.7km and over 2,800m of climbing on the hardest mountain stages. Today’s fourth stage is set to cover 176km.
Meanwhile, in another race yesterday in Europe, Spaniard Pello Bilbao was Bahrain Victorious’ top performer in front of his home fans in the 178km second stage of the 48th Vuelta a Burgos in Spain. Bilbao was part of a trailing group that finished 13 seconds behind leg winner Oscar Only of Netcompany Ineos, who had a finishing time of 4:17:32. He climbed 10 places to 18th in the race’s GC.
Amongst Bahrain Victorious’ other riders, Portuguese Afonso Eulalio finished 43rd, Dutchman Max van der Meulen was 111th, Spaniard Pau Miquel came 137th, Dutch Mathijs Paaschens finished 141st, Briton Oliver Stockwell came 144th, and Slovenian Zak Erzen finished 151st.
This year’s Vuelta a Burgos comprises five stages, being held across 842km and a total elevation gain of approximately 12,000m. Stage three today will cover 184km – the longest of the week.