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Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) scored the fourth time trial win of his career on stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne, setting the only time under 24 minutes on the 15.4km uphill test to Karpacz.
The Belgian is out of the overall GC picture after finishing 1:27 down on the hilly opening stage but, setting out 50 minutes before the overall contenders, set a time of 23:59 that proved unbeatable for the 40 men that came after.
Behind Wellens, it was Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) who scored second place, finishing nine seconds down with a time of 24:08. Vingegaard, who finished fourth on the opening stage, now moves into the overall lead as a result.
Another UAE rider, Felix Großschartner, rounded out the stage podium with a time of 24:14 – he was one of four riders from his team filling out the top 10.
The three men lying ahead of Vingegaard on the general classification all shed time to the Dane to fall behind him in the standings. Third-placed Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) finished 41st with a time of 25:40, while second-placed Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease A Bike) set a time of 24:41 in 10th following a crash and a bike change.
Race leader and stage 1 winner Thibaus Nys (Lidl-Trek), meanwhile, dropped entirely out of contention with a time of 27:32 to finish in 96th place, 3:33 down on Wellens.
Vingegaard now holds the race lead by a commanding 24 seconds from his teammate Kelderman, while Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) now lies third overall, another second back, after finishing sixth on the day.
Earlier on in the day, it was Polish racer Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who set the quickest time among the first 60 riders. His time of 25:15 put him a minute ahead of any other time to that point and he took to the hot seat as provisional leader.
Half an hour later, Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) came through the finish line 14 seconds up to take over the lead, though his time would eventually end up in 20th place.
Still, it stood until Wellens took the course, with the Belgian passing through the mid-stage checkpoint in third place, nine seconds down on Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
But Wellens turned the tables as the road reared upwards in the second half of the stage, putting 1:02 into Bardet and taking the hot seat.
He’d watch Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) – with a time of 24:14 – and Großschartner both come close to his benchmark, but nobody could beat him at the finish. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard looked to have the best chance of doing so of the late runners, but he came through the checkpoint at seven seconds down on Wellens.
It was far from an impossibly wide margin to make up on the run to the finish, but even so, it proved too much for Vingegaard, leaving Belgian time trial champion Wellens to enjoy his victory with a nine-second gap to second.
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