Aussie Davis leads Tour of Poland

The HTC-Columbia sprinter came over the finish line of the 240km stage between Rawa Mazowiecka and Dabrowa Gornicza ahead of Davis and third-placed Belgian Wouter Weylandt.

Time bonuses at the finish line allowed Astana sprinter Davis to take over the race lead from Italian Jacopo Guarnieri, the Liquigas sprinter who won the opening stage.

"I've had a great start in Tour of Poland, I am very satisfied. Today was a hard day, it was the longest stage of this Tour and the whole team has done a good work, Bazayev was impressive. The result is a reward for myself, but also for all the efforts of the team," said Davis.

"And I'm ready to fight to keep it, I feel in really good condition, it is the result of three weeks of intensive training in July, I worked hard and I feel good. I know the team is also ready to defend my position."

Following an early break that was not allowed any advantage by the peloton, a second group formed which included Marcin Sapa (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Tom Stubbe (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Gabriel Rasch (Cervelo TestTeam) and Bartlomiej Matysiak (Polska-BGZ).

This selection built a lead of up to 12 minutes before the sprinters teams went to work bringing them back.

The break was swallowed up with 8 kilometres left to ride - with Sapa's and Matysiak the last holdouts prior to capture.

Despite his pedigree Greipel was overlooked by his HTC-Columbia team for the recent Tour de France, where teammate Mark Cavendish claimed five stage wins from bunch finishes to take his tally to a remarkable 15 from the race.

However that snub has not dented the ambitions of the 28-year-old German as he picked up his 15th win of the season and his first since he took two stages of the Tour of Austria in July.

"The sprint was a bit dangerous, slightly downhill, but I found a gap," Greipel said.

"Then I was quite happy to find another gap to start my sprint. Everyone was pretty tired after such a long stage, and the hot and humid weather wasn't pleasant. But I felt better and better as we got close to the finish."

Greipel is hoping to bag another stage win or two, although he knows his chances will virtually end once the hillier part of the seven-day race begins.

"I got a stage victory here last year and the finishes are pretty similar - wide roads and downhills - so I can be optimistic," he added.

"Whatever happens, this was a good win, and it's a great start to the second part of the season."

Stage 2: 240km, Rawa Mazowiecka - Dabrowa Górnicza.

1 André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia 6:02:52, 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana, 3 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step, 4 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky, 5 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil, 6 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 7 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank, 8 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC, 9 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux, 10 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini

General classification:

1 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 10:08:14, 2 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo, 3 André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia, 4 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 00:00:04, 5 Blazej Janiaczyk (Pol) Poland BGZ, 6 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC 00:00:05, 7 Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) Poland BGZ, 8 Laszlo Bodrogi (Fra) Katusha, 9 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step 00:00:06, 10 Marcin Sapa (Pol) Lampre-Farnese Vini.

Selected Australians:

14 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky 00:00:10, 22 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank, 96 Matthew Wilson (Aus) Garmin-Transitions, 105 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky, 128 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Transitions, 138 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Skil-Shimano, 176 Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank