Arnaud Démare wins final stage of Tour of Poland, Ethan Hayter takes overall

Arnaud Démare (Groupama FDJ) triumphed on the final day of the Tour of Poland in Kraków, winning a big bunch sprint to take stage 7. He beat Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) to the line, adding to his three stage wins in this year’s Giro d’Italia, and sealing victory in the points classification in the process.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the peloton to seal the overall victory. He finished 11 seconds clear of Thursday’s time trial winner Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) and 18 ahead of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), with Matteo Sobrero (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Ben Tullett (Ineos Grenadiers) rounding out the top five.

Four riders got clear early on during the 177.8 kilometer stage, with Julius Johanssen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto Soudal) and Syver Waersted (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) knuckling down to build a maximum advantage of four and a half minutes.

Driznews took the top mountain points on the day’s first two climbs to take over the lead in that competition. Waersted was later dropped with 70 kilometers to go, while De Marchi made a solo bid with 22 kilometers left, searching for his first win in almost a year.

He put in a strong effort but was caught by Nans Peters (Ag2r Cïtroen) with 10.3km left, with the Frenchman adding some welcome oomph and giving De Marchi a chance to recover somewhat. They were recaptured with one lap to go, setting the stage for a big bunch sprint and Démare’s success.

Hayter sealed the overall victory, adding to his win last year in the Tour of Norway. “I am very happy. My team were amazing today controlling the race and we did what we needed to do to finish it off,” he said.

“It was the hardest stage of the race. Small roads and dangerous descents, so we had to be in the front. The breakaway was really strong and a lot of guys chased all day, so it was the hardest day so far.”

Asked if it had been a personal goal for him to take the race, he said that Ineos Grenadiers had targeted the event and that he happened to be the one in the position to do so.

“The goal was for the team to win it. We had a few options. I stayed with them [his rivals] on the climbs and did a good time trial, so that was enough to win.

“Hopefully I will go to the Vuelta next. It will be nice to do my first Grand Tour. I am only 23, so I’ve a few years ahead.”

How it played out:

Stage seven was the concluder of this year’s Tour of Poland and ran 177.8 kilometers from Valsir to Kraków. It was a stage of two parts, with lumpy terrain early on being followed by a flat run in to the finish, where the riders would do three loops of a 5.5 km circuit.

The day’s had an intermediate sprint after 24 kilometers plus another after 62 km, plus the first category climb of Bienkowka (km 41) and the third category Gmina Budzow (km 46). There was one further ascent 39 kilometers from the finish, the fourth category Kaszow.

The day’s key move went after 13 km when Julius Johanssen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto Soudal) and Syver Waersted (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) got clear. They opened a lead of 4:30 over the peloton, which was content to give them a little breathing room.

De Marchi took the first intermediate sprint ahead of Drizners, with the latter swapping that finishing order on the subsequent climb.

This proved crucial, with the 20 points on offer for the race’s first category one ascent catapulting him into the provisional lead of the King of the Mountains competition. He made sure of that by again beating De Marchi to the top of the subsequent category three hill, with the latter again taking the intermediate sprint at 61.3.

The gap there was still 4:30, but started to fall shortly after that.

Waersted was under pressure and was detached with 70 kilometers remaining, leaving three out front. They raced into the final 40 kilometers together and onto to the fourth category climb, where Johansen took the prime. The trio had 1:22 with 35 kilometers remaining and 57 seconds ten km later, making it likely that the bunch would bring them back before the finish.

FDJ Groupama and Jumbo-Visma were amongst those chasing, trying to set up their sprinters Arnaud Démare and Mike Teunissen.

De Marchi jumped clear with 22 kilometers remaining and had a 35 second lead over the hard-chasing peloton. Johansen and Drizners were recaptured with 19km to go, while De Marchi had just 20 seconds crossing the finish line for the second-last time with 15.2 kilometers remaining.

He stretched his back out to try to ease the pain of his effort, and was joined by Nans Peters (Ag2r Cïtroen) with 10.3 kilometers left. Peters drove the pace onwards, giving De Marchi some respite, but the peloton was lurking close behind and ended the party with one lap remaining.

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) judged things perfectly in the tussle to the line, launching and fending off Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious).