Moser wins opening stage in Poland

Boonen held up in crash, Terpstra drops out on rainy stage

With Peter Sagan enjoying a rest day at the Tour de France, another young talent on Liquigas-Cannondale came to the fore in a WorldTour race as 21-year-old Moreno Moser sprinted to victory and the leader's jersey in the opening stage of the Tour of Poland. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finished second, denied victory on his home soil, while Lars Boom (Rabobank) rounded out the top three finishers.

A five-man break, comprised of Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Daniel Teklehaymanot (Orica-GreenEdge), Sylvain Georges (AG2R La Mondiale), Frederico Rocchetti (Utensilnord Named) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (Poland) enjoyed its freedom for much of the 179.5km stage from Golebiewski Karpacz to Jelenia Góra, but ultimately the escapees were absorbed prior to the day's final KOM with 21.5km remaining.

The peloton split in the stage finale with a 36-strong front group emerging to contest the finale and the right to don the first leader's jersey.

While Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Kwiatkowski made a strong start to his Tour of Poland, several teammates were not as fortunate. Niki Terpstra was forced to abandon after crashing on a rainy descent and Tom Boonen, debuting his recently earned Belgian national champion's kit, also hit the tarmac in the same incident but was able to continue.

Read more on: cyclingnews.com

Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale)
Photo: © Tour de Pologne