Tour de Pologne: Kwiatkowski wins stage 5

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Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) extended his lead in the overall classification with his second straight victory at the Tour de Pologne. The home favourite out-kicked his closest rival Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) for the second day running. Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo) came through for third with Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) putting in a solid performance to take fourth.

Kwiatkowski looked shocked as he crossed the line after going from a long way out to take the win and add four seconds to his lead. In a similar pattern to stage 4, Team Sky sat on the front for much of the day, only to move back and let their rivals guide the peloton through the final kilometres.

With less than a kilometre remaining, Kwiatkowski shouted at his teammates to put the hammer down on the uphill drag to the finish line. Groupama-FDJ tried to surprise everyone, but a late attack came to nought. Kwiatkowski was now sitting on the front of the group and he would not let that position go.

Winner of the first two sprint stages, Ackermann had made it over the day's three climbs and was placed perfectly in the finale. He latched onto Kwiatkowski's wheel and held onto the race leader briefly but the rise to the line proved too much for him. He would eventually be passed by Teuns, who was closing on Kwiatkowski but couldn't quite catch him, and Battaglin.

Kwiatkowski now has a 12-second advantage over Teuns in the overall classification with George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) maintaining his third place in the overall standings, now 20 seconds back.

How it happened

The peloton started the day three riders lighter after Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) and Team Sunweb pairing Phil Bauhaus and Mike Teunissen abandoned. Kwiatkowski began the day in yellow after taking control of the overall standings with the victory the day before. Three classified climbs lay in front of the riders, but the road would undulate throughout the 152-kilometre stage.

An active start made for a very fast opening hour and more than 15 kilometres would be completed before a seven-man move began to form. The seven were: Zhandos Bizhigitov (Astana), Mickael Delage (Groupama-FDJ), Jenthe Biermans (Katusha-Alpecin), Matias Le Turnier (Cofidis), Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Alexander Porsev (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and Kamil Zielinski (Poland).

The gap to the escapees was never great and their maximum topped out at just over two minutes. Tratnik was in the hunt for more mountains points after taking the jersey during the breakaway on stage 4 and he would take the full complement at the top of the first climb.

As the gap trickled down, Polish rider Zielinski went on the attack. It would be brought back but it put several riders in trouble, leaving just Tratnik, Bizhigitov and Le Turnier for company as they crested the final climb of the day. Tratnik would take the points there, as he had done on the two before, and cemented his place in the jersey.

Team Sky controlled the pace for much of the day but Mitchelton-Scott had taken over by this stage and they had the break pegged at 50 seconds. That would be quickly demolished on the fast and sweeping descent and the four had just 33 seconds with 27 kilometres to the line. The classified ascents were done and dusted but it would be a relentless up and down route to the line in Bielsko-Biala.

A kilometre later, the four looked to be resigned to their fate and sat up but Zielinski was not done yet and put in another dig, taking Tratnik and Le Turnier with him, while Bizhigitov waited for the inevitable. They would hold on until the start of the finishing circuits but would be brought back just before the second of four crossings of the finish line.

The catch would signal more attacks from the peloton but Mitchelton-Scott would not let anything get away, maintaining a furious pace with Michael Albasini on the front. With the race entering its final lap, Bahrain-Merida shared some of the duties, along with Bora-Hansgrohe, who were keen to add their third victory of the race so far. Team Sky eventually came back to the front but it was Astana that would lead the bunch under the flamme rouge and into the final kilometre.

Sensing an opportunity, one of the Groupama-FDJ riders would strike out in sight of the line but he could not hold off the baying pack behind. As his teammates peeled off, Kwiatkowski was left with a clear road ahead of him and he launched his sprint. Ackermann and then Teuns tried to catch him, but he had just enough to claim the victory, his second ever at the Tour de Pologne.

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