Allan Davis retains yellow jersey, Paolo Bettini visits TdP to commemorate friend Franco Ballerini

Aug. 3, 2010 – Yauheni Hutarovich (Francaise des Jeux) of Belarus won the third stage of Tour de Pologne with a sprint finish. The 122,1-km stage from Sasnowiec to Katowice had a mainly flat, quick route. After the first part of the stage, the peloton entered the spectacular circuit (11.7-km, with 7 laps to ride around it) where the riders were literally surrounded by fans who showed up en masse to support their favourite athletes in the final part of the stage.

Many riders used an aggressive attack strategy during today’s race. Belgian Sebastien Rosseler (Radioshak) first made a break from the group, together with Germany’s Simon Geschke (Skil Shimano). Once the peloton caught up with the two fugitives, a counter-attack took place thanks to Australian Mathew Haymann and English Ian Stannard both from Team Sky. The pack caught the second couple of fugitives as well, but Swedish rider Jonas Ljungblad (Omega Pharma Lotto), Spain’s Gorka Izagirre (Euskatel Euskadi) and Dutch colleague Albert Timmer (Skil Shimano) started a third break from the peloton. They didn’t manage to accomplish their mission either, as the pack caught up with them, too. In the final laps of the circuit a new attempt to break from the pack took place by the hands of Italy’s Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) and Danilo Napolitano (Katusha), who sprinted away together with Canada’s Dominique Rollin (Cervelo) and Slovakia’s Peter Velits (Htc-Columbia). France’s Steve Hounard (Skil Shimano) counter-attacked in the last few kilometers of the race, helped by Gianni Meersman (Française des Jeux). Their effort was neutered by the pack 5 kilometers from the finish line.
Teams of sprinter specialists had a lot of work trying not to let anyone break away in a hard-fought final sprint. In a photo finish arrival, Hutarovich edged out Argentine Lucas Haedo (Saxo Bank) in second place, and Australian Allan Davis (Astana) in third, allowing Davis to retain the leader’s “Skandia” yellow jersey and the “Plus” blue point jersey. Poland’s Janyaczik Blazej (Polska BGZ) retained the “Fiat” red jersey as most active rider in the group, while the “Tauron” cyclamen jersey for best climber changed hands and went to Canada’s Dominique Rollin (Cervelo).

“This is my fourth victory this season after two stages atTour Méditerranèen and one at Circuit de Lorraine – Hutarovich said, 26 year old from Bielorussia, 17th victories in his career -It was a really fast final sprint, my computer was clocking a speed above 70 km/h. I didn’t realise I had won right away because Haedo was catching up with me on the other side of the road. I only thought about pushing my bike ahead with a last-ditch effort and waiting for the photo finish result. I’ve been the Belarus national champion twice, but this is undoubtedly one of my most beautiful ad most important wins. This is a Pro Tour race and I beat some of the strongest sprinters in the world.”

Paolo Bettini visits TdP
Organizers of Tour de Pologne dedicated the race’s third stage to the memory of Franco Ballerini, a friend as well as team-mate of Czeslaw Lang. Italy’s national cycling team manager Paolo Bettini, who won two World Championship titles as well as an Olympic gold medal under Ballerini’s direction, was present to commemorate the former Italian national team manager. After a minute of silence to commemorate Ballerini, the new Italian cycling team manager gave the go ahead to the race, and then awarded the stage winner with the trophy on the podium.
“It is my duty as well as an honor to be here. I was very impressed with the warmth of fans and the incredible number of them along the whole route of the stage today – Bettini said – It’s proof of how Tour de Pologne is growing each year and of how much cycling is appreciated in Poland. Czeslaw Lang is the ambassador of Poland and its sports in the whole world, besides being a friend and a great organizer.”
Tomorrow, Bettini will visit, together with Lang, the concentration camps in Auschwitz. “It’s an opportunity I’ve been given by Tour de Pologne, it’s about remembering and not forgetting what happened in this place, a historically tragic moment for mankind.”

Stage classification
1) Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux – 2h45’04”
2) Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
3) Allan Davis (Aus) Astana
4) Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil – Shimano
5) Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
6) Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
7) Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
Robert Förster (Ger) Team Milram
9) Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
10) Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team

General classification after 3 stages
1) Allan Davis (Aus) Astana – 12h53’14”
2) Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux
3) Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
4) Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
5) Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
6) Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
7) Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team
Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Professional Cycling Team
9) Roy Sentjens (Bel) Team Milram
10) Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Team Radioshack

Photo: © Tour de Pologne