“My plan was to be in the breakaway because there were two intermediate sprints for the blue jersey and I will fight for this jersey until the end of the race. Once in the break, I had to make a decision: fight for the blue jersey or the King of the Mountains jersey. Knowing the next two stages are really hard, I focused on the Most Active Rider jersey instead of trying for two jerseys and risk losing everything. I’m really happy I could take one sprint and increase my lead in this classification.”
Planet Extends Lead in Blue Jersey Competition at Tour de Pologne
Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet increased his lead in the “Most Active Rider” classification.
After a stellar breakaway performance on Stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne, Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet built upon his lead in the “Most Active Rider” classification.
“My plan was to be in the breakaway because there were two intermediate sprints for the blue jersey and I will fight for this jersey until the end of the race,” said Planet. “Once in the break, I had to make a decision: fight for the blue jersey or the King of the Mountains jersey. Knowing the next two stages are really hard, I focused on the Most Active Rider jersey instead of trying for two jerseys and risk losing everything. I’m really happy I could take one sprint and increase my lead in this classification.”
For the fourth time in five days, and despite injuries sustained in a crash on Stage 3, the Frenchman showed his fighting spirit by going all-in for the breakaway. After a flurry of attacks, Szymon Rekita (Polish National Team) and Kamil Gradek (CCC Pro Team) opened a gap of over 30 seconds on the peloton. Planet jumped from the main field and successfully bridged across to the duo.
The trio was later joined by Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) and the day’s breakaway was formed. Knowing that he would inevitably relinquish the King of the Mountains jersey over the coming climbing stages, the 25-year-old Planet made the tactical decision not to contest the KOM’s up for offer and focus his energy on the intermediate sprints to extend his lead in the blue jersey competition.
The quartet worked hard to open up a four-minute lead, but the peloton wasn’t keen on letting the advantage expand farther and brought it down to under two minutes with 100 kilometers to go.
After the two categorized 2 climbs, Planet successfully took the first intermediate sprint. A sudden increase of tempo in the bunch reeled in the escapees on the final Cat 1 climb, approximately 40 km from the finish.
As the race approached the finishing circuit in Bielsko—Biała, new attacks were launched off the front of the field but ultimately brought back before sprint finish that saw Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton- SCOTT) take his second stage win at the 76th edition of Tour de Pologne.
The world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team takes on the first of two decisive climbing stages at the Tour de Pologne starting Thursday with a 160-km stage featuring seven Cat 1 and begins in Zakopane and finishes in Kościelisko.
Team Novo Nordisk is a global all-diabetes sports team of cyclists spearheaded by the world’s first all-diabetes UCI Professional Continental cycling team. In 2012, Phil Southerland, co-founder and CEO of the team, and global healthcare company Novo Nordisk, came together to create Team Novo Nordisk, based on a shared vision to inspire, educate and empower people around the world affected by diabetes. For more information, go to www.teamnovonordisk.com.
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©Photo: Mario Stiehl