Tuesday’s time trial at the Tour de Pologne borrowed almost exactly the final 15 kilometres of the opening stage with some dragging false flat to start with, before some more serious climbing and a very steep pinch just before the top. Romain Bardet set the early benchmark for the team and moved into the hot seat for a while before he was dethroned by eventual stage winner Wellens. Last man down the ramp for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, Oscar Onley, produced a brilliant effort against the clock, measuring his effort well and stopping the clock just 15 seconds in arrears of Wellens. By the time all of the competition had finished their rides, Onley secured a nice fourth place on the day.
Speaking after the stage Onley said: “This TT is something I’ve really focused on since the Tour with my trainer, Tom, so I’m really proud I could put in a good performance today in an area I tend to struggle in. I’m still a bit disappointed to lose time on the GC yesterday but the form is good so we’ll look for chances in the coming days.”
