Tour de Pologne (st. 3)

Andalusian rider from Movistar Team takes tumble in Rzeszów's sprint on Poland's stage three; blows not serious as bad luck keeps pursuing Blue fastman

A sudden swerve before a turn right with 500m from Rzeszów’s finish, on stage three of the Tour de Pologne -173km starting at Kielce-, broke what seemed pure calmness for the Movistar Team after the two opening days hid multiple tricks to get through. Spaniard Juanjo Lobato, who had got into a good place for the sprint after support by Capecchi and Malori in the closing stages, could not avoid crashing after Boivin (CAN) and Swift (SKY) did the same before him, falling against his right-hand side and staying unable to enter the ‘volata’, won by Dutchman Theo Bos (BEL).

Blows suffered by Lobato do not hide serious injuries, yet bad luck begins to pack after a crash on the opening stage plus a solo escapee and a twisty finish in Warsaw on Monday already took him out of contention. All eight Blues crossed the finish line with the same time as Amador, Ion Izagirre, Szmyd, Capecchi and Intxausti stay 37″ off leader Petr Vakoc’s (OPQ) pace before a marathon stage on Wednesday -236km en route to Katowice- before the Tatr mountains show up on Thursday and Friday.