Aug. 7, 2010 – The beautiful city of Cracow, historic and cultural capital of Poland, was the background of the final stage of Tour de Pologne 2010. The final yellow jersey went to Daniel Martin (Garmin Transitions) who won this edition of the Tour de Pologne, while Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) won today’s stage.

The 163.9-kilometer stage started from Nowy Tang. Three riders broke away from the pack in the first part of the stage: Spain’s Angel Madrazo (Caisse d’Epargne), Netherlands’ Roy Curvers (Skil Shimano) and Poland’s national champion Jacek Morajcko of Team Polska BGZ, the home team that fought every day on the roads of Tour de Pologne. Once cyclists entered the final circuit in Cracow (a four-kilometer track, where athletes had to ride three laps) Madrazo tried to sprint away in order to continue in his attacking strategy alone, but the peloton, led by cyclists of Htc-Columbia and Greipel as well as other teams with sprinters, didn’t leave him much space. A final sprint had Andre Greipel prevail on his rivals, obtaining his second victory at Tour de Pologne 2010, and his second win in two years in Cracow. The German preceded Belarus Yauheni Hutarovich (Francaise des Jeux) and fellow countryman Robert Forster (Milram) on the finish line.

“I really wanted to win here in Cracow – said Greipel, 16 wins in the 2010 season -. It’s extremely satisfying to win the final stage of an important race for two years in a row. It was a difficult win because the road was wet with rain. My team put in a magnificent performance, with my teammates guiding me until the fial sprint. Last night my sister’s daughter was born, her name is Clarissa. I want to dedicate this win to her, this is the greatest present I could give her.”

Irish Daniel Martin of Team Garmin Transition retained the “Skandia” yellow jersey, that he conquered on Thursday on the uphill finish in Ustron, thus winning the 2010 edition of the Tour de Pologne. The Irishman preceded Slovenia’s Grega Bole (Lampre) by eight seconds in the final standings. Dutchman Bauke Bollema (Rabobank), who won yesterday’s mountain stage in Terma Bukowina Tatrzanska, was ten seconds behind in third place.

“In terms of sports this is the best day of my life – said Martin, the 10 riders from 1985 to take part at the TdP -. We fought until the very last metre. It was a challenging stage, that the rain made even more difficult. I want to thank Murilo Fischer who guided me wonderfully in the final part, during the last few kilometres. This was an important win for my team, too, seen as this is a Pro Tour race. I will try not to party too much tonight because I want to stay focused on the next few races, the GP Plouay and the giro di Lombardia, as those are my two final big objectives for this season.”

Tour de Pologne winner Martin didn’t only get his yellow jersey, but also a Fiat Bravo car as a prize.

“It’s nice to have won this prize because in my house in Girona I have a garage but I didn’t have a car to park in it yet,” jokes Martin. “I hope I won’t have to drive it from Poland to Spain. I really loved the Tour de Pologne, and I hope I can come back in 2011 as defending champion.”

Dutchman Jhonny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) was satisfied with being awarded both the “Tauron” purple jersey for best climber and the “Fiat” red jersey of most active rider in the group. Australian Allan Davis (Astana) got the “Plus” blue jersey for accumulating the most points. Team Garmin Transitions was the winner in the final team standings.

Stage classification
1 GREIPEL André 42 THR – 10s 03h 51′ 58” 20p
2 HUTAROVICH Yauheni 155 FDJ – 6s + 00′ 00” 19p
3 FORSTER Robert 112 MRM – 4s + 00′ 00” 18p
4 BENNATI Daniele 21 LIQ + 00′ 00” 17p
5 WEYLANDT Wouter 68 QST + 00′ 00” 16p
6 KRISTOFF Alexander 4 BMC + 00′ 00” 15p
7 HINAULT Sébastien 102 ALM + 00′ 00” 14p
8 SWIFT Ben 128 SKY + 00′ 00” 13p
9 DAVIS Allan 172 AST + 00′ 00” 12p
10 VITORIA David+ 00′ 00” 11p

Final General classification after 7 stages
1 MARTIN Daniel 73 GRM 30h 38′ 48”
2 BOLE Grega 11 LAM 30h 38′ 56” + 00′ 08”
3 MOLLEMA Bauke 57 RAB 30h 38′ 58” + 00′ 10”
4 ALBASINI Michael 41 THR 30h 39′ 08” + 00′ 20”
5 BALLAN Alessanandro 1 BMC 30h 39′ 09” + 00′ 21”
6 SZMYD Sylwester 27 LIQ 30h 39′ 14” + 00′ 26”
7 RUTKIEWICZ Marek 221 POL 30h 39′ 18” + 00′ 30”
8 ULISSI Diego 18 LAM 30h 39′ 18” + 00′ 30”
9 DANIELSON Thomas 71 GRM 30h 39′ 21” + 00′ 33”
10 MACHADO Tiago 164 RSH 30h 39′ 29” + 00′ 41”

Gpm – Tauron
1 HOOGERLAND Johnny 194 VAC 88
2 BOZIC Borut 191 VAC 32
3 RUTKIEWICZ Marek 221 POL 28
4 SAPA Marcin 17 LAM 26
5 SWIFT Ben 128 SKY 22

Points – Plus
1 DAVIS Allan 172 AST 67
2 WEYLANDT Wouter 68 QST 61
3 BOLE Grega 11 LAM 56
4 KRISTOFF Alexander 4 BMC 53
5 HUTAROVICH Yauheni 155 FDJ 51

Most Active Rider – Fiat
1 HOOGERLAND Johnny 194 VAC 11
2 SAPA Marcin 17 LAM 7
3 JANIACZYK B?a?ej 226 POL 6
4 LASTRAS GARCIA Pablo 184 GCE 5
5 MADRAZO RUIZ Angel 186 GCE 5

Photos © Tour de Pologne