HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel sprints to Stage 2 victory in Poland

Griepel Powers to Tour of Poland Stage Win

Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland – Germany’s Andre Greipel dominated a bunch sprint to claim victory in the second stage of the Tour of Poland on Monday.

The HTC-Columbia sprinter came over the finish line of the 240 km stage between Rawa Mazowiecka and Dabrowa Gornicza ahead of Australian Allan Davis and Belgian Wouter Weylandt.

Thanks to the time bonuses at the finish line, Astana sprinter Davis takes over the race lead from Italian Jacopo Guarnieri – the Liquigas sprinter who won the opening stage on Sunday. Despite his pedigree, Greipel was overlooked by his HTC-Columbia team for the recent Tour de France, where teammate Mark Cavendish claimed five stage wins from bunch finishes to take his tally to a remarkable career total of 15.

However that snub has not dented the ambitions of the 28-year-old Greipel as he picked up his 15th win of the season and his first since he took two stages of the Tour of Austria in July.

“The sprint was a bit dangerous, slightly downhill, but I found a gap,” Greipel said.

“Then I was quite happy to find another gap to start my sprint. Everyone was pretty tired after such a long stage, and the hot and humid weather wasn’t pleasant. But I felt better and better as we got close to the finish.”

Greipel is hoping to bag another stage win or two, although he knows his chances will virtually end once the hillier part of the seven-day race begins.

“I got a stage victory here last year and the finishes are pretty similar – wide roads and downhills – so I can be optimistic,” he said.

“Whatever happens, this was a good win, and it’s a great start to the second part of the season.”

1. Andre Greipel (GER/HTC-Columbia) 6hr 02min 52sec

2. Allan Davis (AUS) same time

3. Wouter Weylandt (BEL) s.t.

4. Christopher Sutton (AUS) s.t.

5. Borut Bozic (SLO) s.t.

1. Allan Davis (AUS/Astana) 10hr 08min 14sec

2. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA) s.t.

3. Andre Greipel (GER) s.t.

4. Aitor Galdos Alonso (ESP) at 4sec

5. Blazej Janiaczyk (POL) s.t.

Menzies Finishes Third at Elk Grove 

Elk Grove, IL – Karl Menzies of the United Healthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis finished 3rd overall at the Tour of Elk Grove this weekend. Menzies opened the three-day event with a 4th place in the opening 7.2 km time trial, finishing less than three seconds behind stage winner Peter Latham.

With time bonuses available on the line for the top three finishers of the second stage, Menzies was in a good position to take the race lead. So when a break of four riders got up the road relatively early in Saturday’s 155 km road race, UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis took responsibility for the front of the race. In fact, the team rode tempo for nearly 130 km, slowly reeling in the move as the stage came to its conclusion.

Once the break was caught, the team maintained control of the front, looking to deliver Menzies for the sprint. Team V Australia had similar intentions for their sprinter, Jonathan Cantwell. In the rush to the line, Cantwell and David Veilleux of Kelly Benefits were able to slip in ahead of Menzies. But his 3rd place on the stage earned a five-second time bonus, enough for Menzies to take over the race lead.

‘The guys rode a great race on Saturday to keep everything under control and bring the break back,’ said Team Director Mike Tamayo. ‘Once we had them in the fold, we kept the pace up and took Karl to the finish.’

But Cantwell and Veilleux had both moved to around 0:10 behind Menzies with their time bonuses, and with 0:20 available for the win, the race was far from decided.

Sunday’s 110 km criterium played out in similar fashion to Saturday, with a seven-rider breakaway getting up the road. The difference on Sunday was that the break had a good deal of horsepower, and the course ? with a long tailwind section ? made controlling the race harder for just one team.

‘When the gap kept going out, some of the other teams thought we were bluffing and not chasing that hard,’ Tamayo said. ‘But the race really was slipping away. When the gap got out to 1:40 and the break was in danger of lapping the field, the other teams started to realize that we weren’t bluffing. Then V Australia put some guys up front. Chris Horner (Radio Shack) came up to help out.

‘It was a hard chase for everyone,’ he added. ‘By the end, we had burned most of our matches, but so had most everyone else. There were only maybe 25 or 30 guys left at the end for the sprint and Karl was pretty much on his own at that point.’

Once again, it was Cantwell and Veilleux taking the top two spots, earning time bonuses of 0:20 and 0:15 respectively, enough to jump to the top two spots in the overall ahead of Menzies, who took 5th in the sprint.

‘The guys rode great as a team again on Sunday,’ Tamayo said. ‘We tried to get Karl the overall win, but we fell a bit short on Sunday. This race always comes down to a matter of seconds, and time bonuses on the line are critical and often decisive. Cantwell was sprinting well this weekend, and he’s a deserving champion. But we’re looking forward to mixing it up again with them next weekend in Charlotte.’