Tour de Pologne: Ackermann repeats on stage 2 in Katowice

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Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) confirmed his status as the 2018 Tour de Pologne's top sprinter as he weaved his way through the peloton to a second victory in 24 hours, simultaneously strengthening his overall lead.

On Saturday Ackermann was wearing his German National Champion's jersey as he powered across the line in Krakow, his arms aloft, and on Sunday as he punched the air again, Ackermann was clad in the yellow of race leader. But as the Bora-Hansgrohe sprinter once again left Colombian fast man Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) trailing in second place, the end result was very much the same.

How Ackermann reached the top spot on the winner's podium, though, was markedly different as on the fast downhill sprint into Katowice city centre. Rather than surprise the field with a long sprint like in Krakow, on stage 2 the young German weaved his way across the field from left to right, blasting past a knot of late breakaways from the Polish National Team as he did so.

With Hodeg glued to his back wheel, Ackermann finally stormed back to the centre of the road to cross the line for the victory. Ackermann said afterwards his manoeuvre had been "risky," but it did not earn the German any penalties and the result stood.

"It was risky because I was going too fast in the end to find a perfect line and then I had to go to the right side," Ackermann said. "It was critical but it was OK, I think."

Running once again through the rolling southern Polish countryside, an opening lap of 32 kilometres through the start town of Tarnowskie Gory was cancelled after the riders were misdirected by an official at one point on the circuit. As a result, the race approached the finish town of Katowice unduly early and to compensate, the decision was taken mid-stage to add on another 20-kilometre finishing lap around the city to the three initially planned.

The slightly shorter overall stage length and early confusion made little to no difference to the final outcome. An early break of three riders, all from non-World Tour teams - Kamil Gradek (CCC Polsat), Evgeny Shaluno (Gazprom Rusvelo) and Adam Stachoviak (Representacja Polska) - broke away early on, gained around three minutes, and then attempted the near-impossible: fending off the peloton, led for much of the day by the seemingly tireless Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe).

On the last lap, Team Sky ended Benedetti's lengthy spell on the front, instantly putting the trio's lead below 30 seconds, and the break visibly took the decision to let the peloton reel them in. Former Pologne points winner Alberto Bettiol (BMC Racing Team) then tried, unsuccessfully, to use a technical section and some urban pave of the circuit to go clear, with Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) amongst the favourites keeping a close eye on affairs at the front.

The crunch moment of the stage came just over a kilometre from the line, as the peloton crowned a big roundabout at the summit of a long, draggy uphill, with two members of the Polish National Team riders, Michal Podlaski and Karel Domolgaski impressively managing to swing around the uppermost corner at high speed and subsequently go clear.

The duo's manoeuvre visibly put them at a narrow advantage and ahead of the field as the finish line approached, with another team-mate bridging across to bolster their challenge. But Ackermann's stunning late acceleration put the German past the trio of late breakaways and firmly back in control of affairs - and on track for a second win.

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