Almeida podiums is crash marred sprint in Poland

Joao Almeida put in a strong performance to take the 3rd place on stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne from Pszczyna to Bielsko-Biala (199.1km).

A reduced group of around 30 riders reached the uphill finish to the line which was disrupted by a touch of wheels which took down several riders with Rafal Majka and Brandon McNulty held-up but narrowly avoiding harm. The day was won by Van Der Berg (Education Easypost) with Finn Fisher-Black taking 5th place in the same sprint.

Almeida now sits 2nd in the GC at just 12’’ Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) ahead of tomorrow’s individual time trial.

UAE Team Emirates also lead the teams classification heading into stage 6 in Katowice (16.6km).

Almeida : “In normal conditions I should do well tomorrow in the TT. Let’s see if I can take some time on Mohoric. I’ll try and do my best and bring my best legs. It’s going to be quite explosive as it’s short with plenty of corners so it’s going to be a tough one.”

Stage 5 results

1.Martijn Van den Berg (Education Easypost) 4:51:27
2.Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) s.t
3.João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

 
General Classification after Stage 5
1.Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) 22:29:32
2.Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +12’’

3.Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates)   +14’’