'The right decision' - Crash, confusion and consensus at Tour de Pologne

There was a considerable degree of confusion on the road to Wałbrzych on stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne, but it was understandable in the circumstances. Race leader Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R) was among the fallers in a high-speed crash with 22km to go, and there seemed to be uncertainty in the peloton about whether to press on or to wait for the yellow jersey.

The unwritten rules were only part of the equation, of course. The race organisation and the commissaires had to reckon with the safety of the peloton, and the Tour de Pologne has, of course, known horrific crashes over the years. With the ambulance and race doctors held up tending to the fallen riders, the decision was taken to neutralise the race temporarily with 15km to go.

Mattias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) were forced to abandon due to the injuries they sustained in the crash. Baroncini’s teammate Rafal Majka also came down, though the Pole was quickly able to rejoin the fray.

The race leader Lapeira also managed to finish the stage, albeit bloodied, bruised and initially unsure if he would be able to continue on Thursday.

Word of the stoppage filtered through on the final climb of Przelecz Niedzwiedzica with 15km to go, with escapees Kelland O’Brien (Jayco-Alula), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) and Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) flagged down and told to wait.

The main body of the peloton joined them shortly afterwards, and for fifteen minutes, the entire Tour de Pologne was brought to a halt amid a blizzard of phone calls between commissaires and the race organisation. 

Race director Czesław Lang and commissaire Gary McIlroy outlined the situation to the riders, explaining that the decision had been taken to neutralise the general classification but that the race for the stage victory would eventually resume, with the time gap between the break and the peloton maintained.

“All of our ambulances and medical staff stopped to assist the injured. At that point, the peloton was unable to continue without medical support and was therefore halted,” Lang explained afterwards.

“In accordance with safety regulations and procedures, we made the decision to neutralize the race and stop the entire peloton to prevent further risk. Once the situation was under control and the ambulances rejoined the race, the peloton resumed.”

Although Milesi, Ulissi and O’Brien were given a 40-second head start on the peloton, the momentum had clearly been drained from their move by the delay in play, and the bunch quickly began to whittle down their advantage. Although they fought gamely, they were inevitably swept up on the run-in. 

On arriving at the Movistar bus, a disappointed Milesi felt that the neutralisation had distorted the finale of the stage, though it could also be argued that the break’s advantage had grown after the crash due to the peloton’s hesitation to benefit from the yellow jersey’s misfortune. 

“It was all going quite well and behind they had used up their energy, so we were quite confident but then they neutralised the race,” Milesi said. “Behind, they were able to recover. There were people who were almost dropped who started to pull, so it was impossible to make it.

“They told us on the last climb [about the neutralisation]. When we started that climb, I could see there were very few people behind who could still pull. But then they stopped the race for 10 minutes and they were all fresh…”

Lotto directeur sportif Dirk Demol, however, preferred to look at the bigger picture.

“There was some panic because the ambulance had to come and get through, and they were telling us to stay on the right, stay on the right,” he said. “It was unlucky that it happened, but they took the right decision, I 100% agree.” 

The stage was eventually won by Ben Turner (Ineos), who delivered a fine sprint on the lightly climbing finishing straight to beat Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) to the line.

It was a strange kind of a day to pick up a maiden WorldTour win and in the mixed zone afterwards, Turner’s first thought was for the men who had fallen with 22km to go.

“I’m just hoping those boys are ok. You never want to see that happen to colleagues so all the best to them, I really hope they can come back and be ok,” said Turner, whose Ineos team availed of the pause to hold an impromptu tactical briefing. In the finale, Michal Kwiatkowski delivered a pitch perfect lead-out for the Briton.

“You go through quite a lot of thoughts,” Turner said. “I had a gel, and I focused for the final. I just tried to understand what was coming up, how we were going to do the sprint, and just think about everything else afterwards.

“We spoke with the team and we made the decision to go for me or Victor [Langellotti], because obviously Victor finishes super well on this kind of finish as well. I’m happy we chose me, and I could pull it off in the end.”

Jan Christen, fourth on the stage, had a nuanced view of the neutralisation. The Swiss rider had designs on stage victory and perhaps even the yellow jersey, but even though the stoppage had changed the tenor of the finale, he agreed with the decision.

“When the crash happened, I was also in the front with some other guys and we looked at each other and we were like, ‘Oh, now we first wait, and then the radio told us to stop,’” Christen said at the finish. “I think it was the right decision – but a pity for me as I had super legs.”

The Tour de Pologne resumes in Rybnik on Thursday. As things stand, Lapeira holds an eight-second lead over Victor Langellotti (Ineos), but the Frenchman was walking very gingerly when he arrived at the Decathlon-AG2R bus on Wednesday evening. 

"He's pretty beat up so he's not optimistic about being able to continue," Decathlon directeur sportif Luke Roberts told Domestique, though a more upbeat update arrived from the team an hour or so later.

Although Lapeira suffered "multiple abrasions and minor cracks in two ribs," Decathlon stated that he will take the start on Thursday.