Italian festival in the second stage of the Orlen Nations Gp: the second stage - from Jaroslaw to Arlamow for 143.3 km - saw the success of Ludovico Mellano who preceded his breakaway companions Filippo Turconi and Austrian Marco Schrettl.

Completing the great day for the Italian national team were the sixth place of Belletta and seventh of Zamperini, but above all the conquest of the leader's jersey now worn by Ludovico Mellano.

THE RACE. Torrential rain and temperatures near zero characterized the second stage of the ORLEN Nations Grand Prix, where Italian riders dominated the 143 kilometers of the extremely challenging route from Jarosław to Hotel Arłamów.

Ludovico Maria Mellano won the stage and the overall leader's jersey, followed by his teammate Filippo Turconi in second place and Austrian Marco Schrettl, third.

Today's stage proved to be a formidable challenge for young cyclists, with incessant climbs and extreme weather conditions. Temperatures were just above zero, accompanied by rain and mixed snow. This made the route even more demanding. From the start, the group was very active, with continuous breakaway attempts, all of which were however rejected. Midway through the race, Stef Koning and Norwegian Storm Ingebrigtsen managed to gain an advantage, soon joined by a French rider who however had to abandon the race due to a crash. Meanwhile, in the main group, the battle continued, until a group of over a dozen athletes formed, including Pole Patryk Goszczurny, who however lost ground due to the extremely harsh conditions.

"It was really tough from the beginning, there were about five degrees and it rained all day" recounted Goszczurny. "After 80 kilometers I managed to get into the right breakaway with some strong riders, but then I literally froze. I struggled to finish and have never felt so bad. Tomorrow I hope to get a good result, I still want to prove something in this competition."

Approaching the final climb, only Ingebrigtsen remained in the lead, but was caught before the final ascent. Mellano, Turconi and Austrian Marco Schrettl were the strongest in the group and contested the victory in a three-man sprint. Mellano prevailed, who is now also the overall leader.

"Today's stage was really hard" confided the winner. "At one point we were about twenty, including four Italians. The Austrian attacked and Filippo and I followed. On the last climb we gave it our all and I managed to win. With a first and second place for us, it can be said that it was truly a fantastic day. Now we want to defend the jersey and keep it for Italy."

The best Polish rider of the day was Mateusz Gajdulewicz, 32nd at the finish, who commented on the stage: "Fortunately the pace was high from the beginning, so we didn't get too cold, but it was still hard. Patryk was in the breakaway, but suffered from the cold. On the climb towards Arłamów I gave everything, but I was dropped. We will continue to fight, there are still two stages left and the finishes are similar."

The Polish national team coach, Tomasz Brożyna, emphasized how much the weather had an impact: "It was really cold - the guys were frozen, especially Filip Gruszczyński. Everyone faced the same conditions, but the result does not satisfy us. We wanted to do more. However, with two tough stages still to come, we will try to improve."

The race will continue with two more stages, both finishing at Hotel Arłamów. Tomorrow's stage will start from Ustrzyki Dolne, while the final stage on Saturday will start from Lesko. The ORLEN general classification is still wide open: British rider Oliver Peace, fourth, is only 24 seconds behind Mellano. Everything is still to play for.

FINISH ORDER

1 MELLANO Ludovico Italy 03:32:15

2 TURCONI Filippo Italy + 00

3 SCHRETTL Marco Austria + 00

4 PEACE Oliver Great Britain + 14

5 VAN ZANDEN Otto Netherlands + 57

6 BELLETTA Dario Italy + 01:17

7 ZAMPERINI Edoardo Italy + 01:17

8 HOLZER Roman Switzerland + 01:17

9 ECKERSTORFER Benjamin Austria + 01:17

10 AZNAR Hugo Spain + 01:17

11 SVARRE Tobias Denmark + 01:22

12 VALJAVEC Erazem Slovenia + 01:26

13 FRYDKJÆR Patrick Denmark + 01:26

14 MICHELS Jente Belgium + 01:26

15 DOCKX Aaron Belgium + 01:26

16 AEBERSOLD Nils Switzerland + 01:26

17 FOUGNER Eivind Broholt Norway + 01:26

18 KOCKELMANN Mathieu Luxembourg + 01:26

19 REX Tim Belgium + 01:26

20 PATTINSON Tomos Great Britain + 01:26

21 AGOSTINACCHIO Filippo Italy + 01:26

22 JEAN Victor France + 01:26

23 ROWE Elliot Great Britain + 01:30

24 FABRIES Ugo France + 01:30

25 RISKA Richard Slovakia + 01:30

26 INGEBRIGTSEN Storm Norway + 01:39

27 LOPES Lucas Portugal + 01:45

28 FELDMANN Karsten Norway + 01:49

29 TAPIZ Hugo France + 01:49

30 ZAHALKA Stepan Czechia + 01:49