Dutchman Marijn van den Berg won the 5th stage of the Tour of Poland on Wednesday in Biala where Slovenian Matej Mohoric, 2nd, consolidated his leader’s jersey.
The EF Education rider signed his first success on the World Tour circuit at the age of 24.
At the end of a massive sprint marked by a fall in the first places of the peloton, and concerning in particular the Polish Rafal Majka and the Belgian Ilan Van Wilder, respectively 3rd and 6th overall before the stage, Van der Berg won ahead of Mohoric (Bahrain) and Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE).
Thanks to this second place and the six bonus seconds he pocketed, Mohoric consolidates his first place in the standings at the top of which he now sits with a 12-second advantage over Almeida.
The UAE team of Poland’s Rafal Majka, who fell to 11th place after his crash, filed a protest after the race.
The stage was marked by the long breakaway of five riders, who started 180 kilometers from the line, and whose last survivor, the Belgian Thomas De Gendt, was caught only 12 terminals from the finish.
Thursday, the riders who have ambitions in the general classification – the first seven stand in 26 seconds – will compete in an individual time trial of 16.6 kilometers in the streets of Katowice (south).
