Ireland’s Daniel Martin has had to be satisfied with second overall in the Tour of Poland, with the Garmin-Cervélo rider losing the race lead on today’s final stage in Krakow due to time bonuses awarded for sprints.
Martin started the day three seconds ahead of previous leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) but lost two seconds to him in the intermediate sprint, 30 kilometres from the finish. Martin finished today’s stage in 25th place.
Sagan then took second to Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) in the final sprint, picking up an additional six-second time bonus and winning the race outright, five seconds clear of Martin.
The Irish rider showed yesterday that he was undoubtedly the strongest climber, but was hampered by the lack of a high mountain finish this year.
While the race was a target in itself, he was also using it to prepare for the Vuelta a España, which begins in two week’s time.
