Modolo triumphs in Poland

Sacha Modolo won the sprint in the second fraction of the Tour de Pologne, covering 142 km from Tarnowskie Gory to Katowice. The Venetian sprinter prevailed against Danny Van Poppel (Sky), whose second place made him the new leader in the general classification, ahead of World Champion Peter Sagan and Maximilian Walscheid (Sunweb). Modolo has also risen to third place in the General with the same time as the first two.

“It was a much needed victory,” says a euphoric Sacha Modolo. “It’s been a month and a half since I last raced, but I have been training well in this period. Frankly I’m a bit surprised because yesterday I didn’t feel so great and so today I didn’t think I could put in such a performance. Fortunately however, not all days are the same. Furthermore, fast arrivals like these aren’t usually my forte because you need a lot of power, while I prefer sprints which are a bit more challenging. Today I could count on Ferrari and a fantastic team that helped me choose the right time to take off. I dedicate this fantastic victory to all of them and to my girlfriend’s father, who had an accident on his racing bike today.”

Says Sports Manager Orlando Maini “After yesterday’s less than perfect sprint, we tried to tweak the mechanism, speaking about it at length during the daily briefing before the start. I have to say that the guys perfectly understood all the instructions and for this I wish to congratulate them wholeheartedly. Tomorrow we will get the chance to play some other important cards, considering the 4 mountain primes and the final stretch with gradients of up to 17%. We have at least 3 men who can do well: Rui Costa, Conti and Ait El Abdia.”

Tomorrow is the third fraction, covering 161 km from Jaworzno to Szczyrk, with four mountain primes and the arrival on a stretch about 700 metres long with certain points at  17%.

Stage results

1 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE-Emirates 3:15:21

2 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky

3 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb

General classification after stage 2 

1 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky 6:11:27

2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t.

3 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE-Emirates s.t.