Paul Lapeira has won the 2nd stage of the Tour of Poland in the uphill sprint. The Frenchman from Team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale had the best nerves in the finale and waited a long time for his chance. With a lively attack, he even opened up a gap to his first chasers Mathias Vacek (Lidl - Trek) and Victor Langellotti (INEOS Grenadiers).
The 150-kilometre section of the tour around Karpacz was the first test for the classification riders. In the final climb, which was separated by a small intermediate descent and was around eight kilometres long, nothing happened for a long time at first. Although individual riders gradually dropped back, there were still almost 30 riders together 700 metres before the finish. Then Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) opened the finale. Far too early, however, as it turned out.
At this point, Lapeira was still on various back wheels. At the decisive moment, he was on Vacek's wheel, who replaced Christen and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) at the front of the field. With 200 metres to go, the Frenchman overtook him with a powerful attack. The gap closed - and Lapeira celebrated his sixth victory as a professional with a two-second lead over Vacek and the Monegasque Langellotti. His previous victories had all come in the previous year.
Lapeira lets his legs do the talking: "It was all about strength today"
"Today it was all about the strength in my legs," said Lapeira at the finish. "I felt very good and saved my energy for as long as possible to attack at the right moment. When we caught up with the first riders, I took the opportunity and gave it my all in the last 200 metres - and it worked, so I'm very happy. After a difficult start to the season, today's win feels great. I knew that my training had been good over the last few weeks, but I now had to put it into practice."
With the victory, the 25-year-old also took the lead in the overall standings, which is recorded by time credits at the finish with a six-second lead over Vacek. "Now we will do everything we can to defend the yellow jersey," said Lapeira. The list of candidates who will try to wrestle the jersey back from him is long. "But no matter what happens, this Tour de Pologne is already a success."
Tour of Poland 2025 - Results of the 2nd stage
Stage 2: Hotel Gołębiewski Karpacz - Karpacz
Tour de Pologne 2025: Stage 2, Hotel Gołębiewski Karpacz - Karpacz
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 03:29:58 |
| 2 | Lidl - Trek | +00:00:02 |
| 3 | INEOS Grenadiers | +00:00:02 |
| 4 | Bahrain - Victorious | +00:00:02 |
| 5 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:02 |
| 6 | Groupama - FDJ | +00:00:04 |
This is how the 2nd stage of the Tour of Poland 2025 went
In damp weather, all 154 pros who had started the tour also started the second stage of the Tour de Pologne. One quartet wanted to go for it early: The two WorldTour pros Patrick Gamper (Team Jayco AlUla) and Max Walker (EF Education - EasyPost) took the two local heroes Tomasz Budzinski and Patryk Stosz (both Polish national team) with them.
Budzinski had obviously set himself the task of collecting points for the mountain jersey and took the points after eleven kilometres. Stosz, who had already been part of the day's opening group, secured the two intermediate sprints at 26 and 35 kilometres, gaining a lead of around three minutes on the peloton, again led by Ineos and Visma | Lease a Bike.
After Stosz dropped back with a defect on a descent, the group continued as a trio. Gamper then secured the third sprint (KM 69), Budzinski again the mountain classification (KM 85). On this climb, UAE and Lidl-Trek took over the pace work and reduced the breakaway's lead to 1:20 minutes with 60 kilometres to go. Over the next 40 kilometres, another half a minute was lost.
Last kilometre tears the field apart completely
22 kilometres before the finish on the climb to the last mountain classification, Walker, who had been rather reserved in the group, left his escape companions behind. He had a 50-second lead on the duo at the top, with the peloton 20 seconds behind. The leader took a good minute into the final ten kilometres. His former companions had been dropped.
Ineos, UAE and Alpecin-Deceuninck chased the Briton relentlessly. At the 5-kilometre mark, the oven was out and the peloton took over. The peloton then thinned out considerably in the uphill finale. There were no attacks - until 700 metres before the finish. Then Christen opened the race, followed by Fisher-Black. But the two were too early. Vacek took the lead and had Lapeira on his wheel. He easily outsprinted the Czech champion and even pulled out a small cushion in the final 200 metres.
