Hail, rain, and wind caused havoc in the 226 Tour de Pologne Stage 1 on Sunday, creating conditions that caused several crashes. Nikolas Maes of OPQS finished 6th in the group arrival, as the lone rider left from the breakaway was caught before the final kilometer.
Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R - La Mondiale) won the chaotic first stage, with Roman Maikin (RusVelo) 2nd and Manuele Mori (Lampre-Merida) 3rd.
OPQS looks next to 234km Stage 2 on Monday.
"Today Maes and De Weert crashed during the storm that hit the peloton," Sport Director Rik Van Slycke said. "Then at about 4 kilometers to go in a right corner Wout Poels went down, but he managed to jump on his bike again and reach the finish with only 26 seconds of time lost. Considering everything, it could have been worse today. Nobody is injured, that's the most important thing in a day like today."
