Two days, top top-three finishes for the 22-year-old.
Szczecin, a charming city located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, with a history going back to the eighth century, welcomed the Tour de Pologne peloton at the end of one of this edition’s shortest stages.
The distance and the flat terrain made for one of the fastest days in the saddle in the recent history of the race, as the peloton averaged 48.51km/h. Ayco Bastiaens was on duty for T-Rex Quick-Step from kilometer zero, pulling behind the four-man breakaway which he caught around 15 kilometers from home.
A succession of tricky corners made for a hectic finale, where the lead-out trains disintegrated, but even in these conditions, Paul Magnier showed what he was capable of, unleashing a powerful sprint which saw him come from a long way back to take second behind Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). The Frenchman sits in the same place on the general classification going into Wednesday’s stage, which should give the sprinters one more opportunity to shine this week.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
