Belgian double victory in the second bunch sprint of the Tour of Poland. After Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) had taken the lead the day before, the Dutchman had to settle for third place this time. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) took the stage win on the 188-kilometre stage around Katowice - with the better end for the best sprinter of the season in terms of victories.
Merlier celebrated for the 13th time in 2024 - only Tadej Pogacar has achieved more victories this season, namely 21. Three men, who were also expected to be at the front, crashed shortly before the three-kilometre mark. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Caleb Ewan (Jayco-AlUla) were involved, as was German hope Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious). However, all three were able to finish the race.
Katowice - where Jakobsen had a disastrous fall four years ago
However, crashes in Katowice can also end differently. Four years ago, the crash that almost cost Fabio Jakobsen his career and life after he was pushed into the barriers by Dylan Groenewegen on stage 1 occurred on the finishing straight 200 metres before the finish. Compared to that, however, this time everything went off lightly, with only skin abrasions.
Johan Jacobs (Movistar Team), Xabier Azparren (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Norbert Banaszek (Polish national team) had dominated most of the day. The trio was only caught ten kilometres from the finish. There were no changes among the top 10 in the overall standings. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) continues to lead the stage race.
Tour of Poland 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 5
- Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 4:05:00
- Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) 4:46:20
- Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Davide Cimolai (Movistar) +0:00
- Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) +0:00
- Andrea Pasqualon (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Casper van Uden (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
The current standings in the overall standings
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) 16:56:08
- Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) +0:19
- Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:20
- Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) +0:33
- Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:37
- Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:44
- Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:44
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:49
- Mikkel Frölich Honore (EF Education EasyPost) +0:50
- Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates) +0:50
The Tour of Poland 2024 runs until Sunday, when it ends in Krakow. The penultimate section between Wadowice and Bukovina Resort over 183 kilometres is then once again a matter for the climbers.
