Team Sky's Ben Swift claimed victory on stage two of the Tour de Pologne in a sprint finish in Opole.
Team Sky rider sprints to victory on stage two in Poland
Team Sky's Ben Swift claimed victory on stage two of the Tour de Pologne in a sprint finish in Opole.
The Brit outpaced Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale), leading from the front in the bunch kick after the 239.4 kilometres from Walbrzych to Opole.
After Ian Stannard and Mathew Hayman had put him in the right position arriving at the final corner, Swift held off the challenge of Viviani for his first win on the road this year.
Viviani finished a wheel-length back, with Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) completing the podium in third.
Breakaway
The undulating terrain in the early part of the longest stage of this year's race provided the setting for a breakaway and the trio of Diego Caccia (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Damian Walcazk (Reprezentacja Polski) and Adrian Kurek (Utensilnord-Named) took their chance.
They still had a lead of more than three minutes when Caccia made a solo bid for glory from 20 kilometres out.
But the Italian was caught by the peloton on the last of three circuits, each of six kilometres, around the southern city of Opole.
That cleared the way for a sprint finish with Stannard, resplendent in his new national champion's jersey, moving up on the left before Hayman took over and Swift lived up to his name.
His victory moves him up to third in the points classification, one point behind leader Fabian Wegmann (Garmin-Sharp).
Yellow jersey
Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale), winner of stage one, finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall race lead. He has a four-second advantage over Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), with Lars Boom (Rabobank) a further two seconds behind in third.
A trio of Team Sky riders are well placed to challenge in the coming days, headed by Sergio Henao in seventh.
Lars-Petter Nordhaug (23rd) and Rigoberto Urán (26th) are also among the group of 25 riders 10 seconds behind Moser.
The race continues on Thursday with a 201.7 kilometres route from Kedzierzyn-Kozle to Cieszyn, which includes the category one Kubalonka climb twice.
