German extends advantage on general classification
Marcel Kittel made it two wins out of two when sprinting to an emphatic victory on stage two of the Tour de Pologne.
The 23-year-old German was again put in pole position by his Skil-Shimano team-mates on a crash-marred run-in to Dabrowa Górnicza at the end of the 162 kilometres route from Czestochowa - but he could hardly have rounded it off more impressively.
Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) had attempted to jump clear with around 300 metres to go but he was overhauled with ease by Kittel who had time to sit up and celebrate his 10th triumph of the season well before the line.
Haussler held on for second, with Graeme Brown (Rabobank) completing the podium in third.
Kittel's latest success extended his lead in the overall standings to seven seconds from Adrian Kurek (Reprezentacja Polski), with a further seven seconds back to Haussler in third.
But the conclusion of the stage was somewhat overshadowed by a high-speed pile up on the last of the four 5.6km finishing laps as the teams jostled for position, leaving around 40 riders to contest the sprint finish.
The stage had earlier run along predictable lines as a four-man break comprising Kurek, Paolo Bailetti (De Rosa), Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC) went clear early on and quickly opened up a lead of just under five minutes.
They were allowed to hoover up all the sprint and climbing points on offer but the peloton started to cut down their advantage in the final 50km, with the catch coming just before the penultimate lap of the finishing circuit.
Tuesday's third stage looks another one for the sprinters as the pack travels 135.7km from Bedzin to Katowice, ending with eight laps of a technical 11.2km course.
