Van Poppel finally captures stage victory at Tour de Pologne

After several podium finishes and a brief spell in the lead, the only thing missing for Team Sky sprinter Danny Van Poppel in the 2017 Tour de Pologne was an actual win. And on Wednesday's crash-blighted, rain soaked finale in Rzeszow, it finally arrived.

Van Poppel's victory in Pologne came as much thanks to Team Sky's rock-solid positioning on the front of the peloton and surviving four short, Amstel Gold-like climbs as it did to his actual sprint speed.

Then there were the crashes, too. Late rainstorms turned the stage 5 finale into a skating rink, with riders going down even when taking corners at a snail's pace, as happened to Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Drapac) on a 180-degree turn at the start of the last lap.

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Van Poppel was perfectly placed at the front of the mini-peloton when it roared into the final kilometres, with two Sky teammates piloting him safely through the fiddly final city centre. Race leader Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), clearly recognising he was onto a good thing, stayed locked onto Van Poppel's back wheel.

Van Poppel and his Sky escort found themselves ahead of another crash that ripped into the peloton with 1.2 kilometres to go, and which abruptly reduced the front group of sprinters and GC men from around 40 to less than a dozen.

A late move by Youcef Reguigui (Dimension Data) could have caught the Sky mini-train by surprise but instead, they resolutely ploughed on, passing the fading Algerian with about 500 metres to go. Van Poppel started the sprint from a long way out, and despite Sagan's best efforts to get back on terms, not to mention a determined charge from Orica-Scott's Luka Mezgec on his left, the young Dutchman could finally cross the line as a Tour de Pologne stage winner.

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