Prades crashes during Pologne opener; long break by Villella in Milano-Torino

Milano-Torino / Tour de Pologne (st. 1)

Catalan suffers considerable blow to his scapula (pending exams) after brutal multiple accident at Katowice's sprint, with Jakobsen (DQT) as most affected.

THURSDAY UPDATE | Prades sustains vertebra fracture at Pologne crash

Edu Prades was involved in Wednesday’s horrible incident taking several competitors down at the finishing straight on stage one of the Tour de Pologne in Katowice. The Catalan is pending, as this news article was last updated [8.20pm CEST, miércoles 5], exams on a considerable blow to his right-side scapula, while having also suffered a wound to his back and some minor blows to his ribs. The original article on the Polish race and Milano-Torino, also held on Wednesday, follow below.

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/ Today’s routes

Two races so similar that they could be told with the same profile -and report. They were even almost as long: 198km for Milano-Torino, from Mesero to Stupinigi, and 195km on the opening day of the Tour de Pologne, from the Slaskistadion in Chorzów to Katowice. Both with small elevations, yet with no rated ascents, making a sprint finish the most likely scenario.

/ Weather report

The Movistar Team riders in Italy didn’t have to suffer the deluge from Monday’s Grande Trittico Lombardo again: it was rather a sunny day, with a maximum 27ºC and no significant wind gusts towards the Piedmont. It was a little bit less warm in Poland, around 22ºC, with clear skies.

Arcas and Erviti are looked after by our race carers at the start of day one in Poland. (c) BettiniPhoto

/ Keys to the day

In Poland, it was a four-man breakaway leading from the go, with Paterski (POL), Małecki (CCC), Van den Berg (EF1) and Brand (TNN) always kept within three minutes’ distance by the main sprinters’ teams, Deceuninck, Jumbo-Visma and Bora, which caught them with 15km to go.
The bad news, though, came at the finishing straight in Katowice, on a slight descent, where a horrible incident into the final meters saw Fabio Jakobsen (DQT) crashing against the barriers and a finish commissaire. As the barriers came into the road, a subsequent crash involved multiple riders, including Edu Prades.
The Catalan was moved by ambulance to a medical center nearby to undergo checkups on a considerable blow to his right-side scapula, and put stitches to a wound in his back. Prades also felt some minor rib pain. We’ll update this release with more info as soon as we get it [8.20pm CEST, Wednesday 5th].

Villella during his breakaway in Milano-Torino. (c) BettiniPhoto

Over at Milano-Torino, Davide Villella took over a starring role in the race by joining the ‘morning’ break of six, together with Boaro (AST), Tonelli (BCF), Van Hoecke (CCC), Rivi (ITA) and Garosio (THA). A maximum gap of seven minutes was amassed by a group which Trek-Segafredo and Deceuninck – Quick Step started to bring back halfway through the race, with many other big teams (Arkea, Bora, Lotto, Groupama, UAE) later controlling the pace before the sprint.
Villella’s action was over with less than twenty kilometers remaining, after 180km at the front. From that point on, Norsgaard -in his second racing day-, Cataldo and Jacobs took efforts to put Gabriel Cullaigh into a good position and avoid crashes, yet the Briton was left out of the sprint before the final straight. Démare (GFC) won ahead of Ewan (LTS) and Van Aert (TJV).

/ Upcoming goals

While the Movistar Team’s ‘Italian bubble’ will stay in the outskirts of Milan for next Saturday’s ‘Classicissima’ -lineup available soon at our Race Guide-, the Tour de Pologne will offer the sprinters another chance on Thursday at Zabrze’s finish (151km). The Queen stage of the race comes on Saturday, with the steep slopes of the Tatr mountains in Bukowina.

RESULTS > Milano-Torino | Tour de Pologne