The 2025 Tour de Pologne experienced a major incident when a devastating downhill crash led to injuries among multiple riders and the race's temporary suspension. Ineos Grenadiers' Ben Turner eventually won the stage after it resumed. However, significant concerns loomed over the well-being of the crash victims, including race leader Paul Lapeira and Rafal Majka. The race organizers initially paused proceedings to account for the situation, leading to a brief 15-minute standoff before allowing the race to continue under unusual circumstances.
The crash on a fast, narrow section of densely wooded downhill saw race leader Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and former Pologne winner Rafal Majka (UAE team Emirates-XRG) amongst the multiple fallers, second-placed Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) forced to abandon, and several other riders... forced to quit.
For 15 long minutes, there was a collective holding of breath as team reports on the state of injured riders were radioed or telephoned through, with the decision as to whether the race could continue was taken.
Collection
[
|
...
]