August 4, 2026
The riders have a full 80 fewer kilometers to cover today than yesterday's mammoth stage but the result should be another bunch sprint. The start in Międzyzdroje is about as close to Germany as you can get along the Baltic Sea coast. The first 40 km are packed with three sprints, the first being a bonus sprint with 3 seconds available for the first across the line. The course turns South away from the sea through completely flat plains full of Rye and Wheat fields and passed the marshy bogs of the low lands. Another two bonus sprints are set in Nowogard and Goleniów at 67 and 40 kilometers to go, just as teams will be setting up for the finish. The last 10 km after passing into the city limits of Szczecin are all on big highways like we see in the Middle East. There are three road changes as the riders will cross over a number water ways including the West Oder river. The last corner comes 400 meters from the line and is a dead 180 degree turn. Too far back coming out of this bend and you stand no chance of competing for the sprint win in Szczecin.
Race Summary
A bit of early morning rain soaked the roads but the riders were dry as they rolled out through lines of fans that came out to see the peloton off. A group of five rolled off the front early on but there were strong riders within which T-Rex Quickstep was unhappy with. Jonas Rutsch of Lotto Intermarché and Anton Schiffer of Visma-Lease a Bike then went away and were later joined by two members of the Polish National Team, Patryk Stosz and yesterday's break away rider Radosław Frątczak. The bunch began riding right away and pegged the group at 1 minute 40 seconds with the familiar faces of Ayco Bastiaens of T-Rex Quickstep and Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek.
In the first sprint, Stosz rolled through first to take the cash in front of wonderfully large crowds in Dziwna. Stosz did the same a few kilometers later in Dziwnówek at the second cash prime but it was unlikely to be so cordial for the bonus sprint further down the road. The break continued for another 10 km and when the line appeared for the bonus sprint through the town of Kamien Pomorski, both Polish National Team riders went for it, as did Rutsch. Frątczak was the quickest rider and took the bonus seconds with Rutsch just holding off Stosz for second. The four leaders sealed back together to continue their driving pace at just 90 seconds from the peloton.
The roads were less twisting than on day one which made the chase that much more straightforward and the was never any jeopardy for the peloton. Coming into the bonus sprint in Nowogard with 67 km to go, the gap dipped below 1 minute as they leaders prespared for the sprint. Schiffer missed out entirely on the first one in Kamien Pomorski and decided to go long. He didn't manage to get much a gap and sat up afterwards. They soft pedaled through a gentle right bend which is when Rutsch attacked about 400 meters out. He caught the group by surprise but Frątczak proved once again that he was the fastest and was able to close the gap and come around the German to take 3 more seconds.
The gap continued to drop and with 64 km to go, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla thought he may be able to bridge the 40 seconds between groups. T-Rex Quickstep did not want De Bondt in the move and they chased quite hard to bring the Belgian back. The leaders also did not want company so they put their heads down and rode harder. Stosz did his last remaining work and peeled off with 55 km to go as De Bondt was closing at 14 seconds behind with the peloton just another 15 or 20 second further back.
De Bondt made contact with 51.5 km remaining but the peloton was just 23 seconds behind and intent on keeping them close. As the newcomer, De Bondt did a lot of work to get the break motivated and moving and had them out to 40 seconds by the third and final bonus sprint in Goleniów with 40 km to go. In the sprint, Schiffer jumped first but Frątczak reacted quickly and hit clean air almost immediately. Rutsch tried to come around the Pole on his right but the barriers closed in and Rutsch had to back off. Frątczak comfortably took the seconds, giving him 9 on the day as well as the maximum intermediate points. Rutsch was second across the line with Schiffer in third and De Bondt 10 meters back just saving energy.
The group reorganized but kilometer after kilometer, their gap was reduced and when Frątczak backed out of the break with 22 km to, the other three were left with just 20 seconds. EF-Education EasyPost had been riding with Lidl-Trek and T-Rex Quickstep for the previous 20 km which made the task out front to be futile. The bunch was wide across the road when the catch was finally made with 15 km to go and the drag racing began for the finale.
The speed really ramped up as the riders went from two to four lanes on a wide highway with the knowledge that the road was going to narrow again soon. Groupama-FDJ United were doing a great job holding the left side of the road as Lidl-Trek, Tudor Pro Cycling, Bahrain Victorious, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe all tried to own the front. Netcompany-Ineos and NSN Cycling joined the party while they still had plenty of space to play with.
Decathlon CMA CGM won position at 3.5 km to go as they pushed speeds well over 60 km/hr but the road remained wide crossing the river on the highway and the French squad was swarmed by a rush from behind. Lotto Intermarché took control as they barreled down the highway off-ramp at terrifying speeds coming into 1 km to go. The road went back out to three lanes and the fight continued to get into the 180 degree turn first. XDS-Astana nailed their timing but Matteo Malucelli slipped back out of the corner into seventh or eighth wheel. The last XDS-Astana lead out man had about 10 bike lengths coming out of the corner and was being hunted down by Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek. Iván García Cortina of Movistar jumped Milan which was a blessing in disguise because Milan was able to get a little draft for about 200 meters. The XDS-Astana rider was swept up with 150 meters to go when Milan made his bid for home. On his wheel was Malucelli and Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep but when Milan went, he was in another universe and completely untouchable. The Italian Champion screamed passed García Cortina to take his second win in as many days with at least two bike lengths on Magnier in second and Malucelli in third.
Milan extended his GC lead to 8 seconds to Magnier and 12 seconds to Kamil Małecki who was holding on to bonuses from Stage 1.