Tour de Pologne stage 7: Tim Merlier wins stage as Matej Mohorič secures title

After six intense days of racing, the Tour de Pologne came to a close on Friday with the seventh and final stage in which Tim Merlier made a late dart to the line to win his second stage of the race. The Belgian narrowly edged out Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), as Matteo Moschetti’s (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) early flyer failed to pay off.

Heading into the final day of racing, the GC had been tantalisingly poised, with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) leading the race by hundredths of a second from second-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates). Both riders recognised that the final day of the Tour de Pologne is usually a ceremonial bunch sprint, but knew that bonus seconds would be up for grabs along the way.

As it was, a thrilling final day lay in store as the peloton allowed no breakaway riders to go up the road ahead of the intermediate sprint. With three, two and one bonus seconds on offer to the first three riders across the line, all was set for a Mohorič and Almeida duel. Fearing a last-day coup - just as he had achieved himself against Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) at last year’s CRO Race - Mohorič lined up his Bahrain Victorious teammates for a full-blown lead-out.

Kamil Gradek opened things up, before experienced sprinter Andrea Pasqualon became lead-out extraordinaire and delivered the Slovenian towards the line. With Almeida clipping at his heels, Mohorič was at risk of being gazumped, but ensured that the maximum bonus seconds would fall his way with a textbook bike throw. The result meant that Mohorič entered the final 95km with a one-second lead over Almeida, but only a fool would assume that the race had run its course.

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Before the finale, Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Marcin Budzinski (Poland National Team) and Dorian Godon (AG2R Citroën) clipped off the front and formed the day’s definitive breakaway. Their gap never exceeded a minute and a half as the likes of Tudor Pro Cycling and Movistar set their eyes on a sprint finish in Kraków, with the eventual catch made some 16km from the line.

Crashes plagued the final kilometres of racing, with third-placed Michał Kwiatkowski caught up in an incident before quickly being shepherded back to the bunch by his Ineos Grenadiers teammates. Bahrain Victorious navigated Mohorič safely to the 3km-to-go mark, securing him the overall title ahead of Almeida and Kwiatkowski, whilst Groupama-FDJ and Soudal-Quick Step led the peloton into the sprint.

Following impressive accelerations by Arvid de Kleijn and Fernando Gaviria - second and third, respectively - it was Soudal-Quick Step’s Tim Merlier who made a final dash to the line to pick up his second stage victory of the race.