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Tour de Pologne 2017: Stage 4

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Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne. 

 

As we join the race for our live coverage, the riders face 128km before the finish in Zabrze.

The hot weather in Europe is also making it tough. It is close to 38C  in southern Poland today. 

With Peter Sagan in the leader's yellow jersey and with the world champion hoping to win the stage, his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates are leading the peloton as they chase the break of the day. 

The gap has fallen to 5:45 in the last 20km of racing. 

Italian rider Cesare Benedetti is doing a lot of the work to keep the break under control.  

The 238km stage started in Zawiercie and the riders are covering a loop south to Zabrze. 

This is the map of the stage.

This is the profile, showing the many short climbs the riders face today.

The stage includes two feed zones due to the length of the stage and two intermediate sprints. 

119km remaining from 238km

The six riders in the break of the day are Remi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tom Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Nick Dougall (Dimension Data), Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi) and Pawel Bernas (Poland).

Despite the heat, the Polish fans have come out to cheer on the riders.

The peloton has now upped the pace, reducing the gap to the break to 4:20.

It seems that several teams are interested in ensuring the day ends in a sprint, with Matej Mohorić (UAE Team Emirates) also helping with the heavy lifting on the front.  

The break of six riders leads by 4:00 as we enter the final 100km of the stage.

Peter Sagan has swapped his rainbow jersey for the race leader's yellow jersey after his huge effort to take second on the uphill finish. 

Dylan Teuns (BMC) parlayed a late attack on the steep finishing climb to Szczyrk to win stage 3 yesterday. It was his first WorldTour victory.

He celebrated his win but fell shy of moving into the race lead thanks to a tenacious climb by Peter Sagan.

Thanks to the time bonus for second place, Sagan moved back into the yellow jersey with a six second lead on Teuns.

This is the moment Teuns celebrated his win. 

To read out full stage report and see the photo gallery of the stage, click here.

The six breakaway riders have a lead of 3:40 now. They look set to stay away until the second intermediate sprint of the stage in 10km or so.

89km remaining from 238km

Everyone in Poland is today celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.

The Warsaw Uprising broke out on August 1, 1944, with Polish insurgents taking up arms against German forces. They held out for 63 days before the Germans crushed the revolt.

The break has reached the second intermediate sprint in Jastrzeb Zdroj, with Bert-Jan Lindemann (LottoNL-Jumbo) taking it ahead of Jan Tratnik (CCC SPrandi Polkowice) and Pawel Bernas (Poland). 

The peloton has not eased at the sprint, with the gap now down to 3:00.

75km remaining from 238km

As you may know, today is August 1 and so marks the official opening of the transfer window, meaning that teams can announce new signings for 2018.  

Cyclingnews has reported many of the first announcements, with interviews with some of the biggest signings.

The Bora-Hansgrohe team was one of the first to make an announcement, confirming the signing of Pete Kennaugh from Team Sky and Daniel Oss from BMC. 

57km remaining from 238km

The break has reached the feedzone with Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) on his own as he grabs his musette. 

Now Lindeman is alone, out the back. He seems to have suffered enough today. 

That leaves five up front, with their gap steady at 2:00.

Behind Benedetti for Bora is still leading the chase. He has help from UAE and Orica. 

A spectator uses a hosepipe to spray the riders with water. 

The lined-out peloton also enjoyed the spray of water as they reach a sign which says 50km to go.  

A close up of Peter Sagan shows him sweating just like everyone out on the road. 

In other transfers news, the FDJ team has confirmed the signing of Dutch national champion Ramon Sinkeldam from Team Sunweb to further boost its lead out train for sprinter Arnaud Demare.

45km remaining from 238km

The riders will soon hit the 200km point, leaving 38km left to race. 

The final 18km cover three laps of a six-kilometre circuit. 

The speed is up to 48km/h with the five riders in the break trying to break the control of the peloton. 

Riders are taking long drinks from their bidons as they ride on in the heat. 

38km remaining from 238km

Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi) took the sprint. 

The same huge crowds give the peloton a huge cheer too. It seems that everyone is out to see the race go by. 

It's great to see Tom Skujins out front after his nasty crash at the Tour of California and subsequent time out due to concussion. 

Nic Dougall drops from the break to his team car. 

27km remaining from 238km

Bernas takes a long pull, then Cavagna takes over. The escapees still believe in their chances.

Of course UAE are working for their sprinter, stage 2 winner Sacha Modolo. Orica-Scott are in for Caleb Ewan, and Bora-Hansgrohe are protecting the lead of Peter Sagan.

24km remaining from 238km

22km remaining from 238km

Tratnik leads the breakaway under the banner for 21km to go - yes, they have an inflatable for just about every kilometer in Tour de Pologne. They've still got 1:15 as the peloton is keeping it on cruise control at the moment.

There are big crowds cheering on the breakaway as they head through the start/finish of the closing circuit for the first time. Dougall leads them in past the masses of round inflatables.

Astana contribute to the pacemaking in the peloton as the breakaway are getting increasingly desperate. Tratnik attacks - he doesn't think they're trying hard enough.

The shadows are getting quite long, and after five plus hours in the saddle, the legs are starting to burn as hot as the sun-drenched tarmac.

It's clear that Cavagna is a talented time trialist, his style is smooth and aerodynamic. He was the U23 national champion of France in the TT for two years in a row.

13km remaining from 238km

The peloton, still led by Astana, are closing in on the trio of chasers. Cavagna has 20 seconds on them, with the peloton at 1:01.

10km remaining from 238km

The roads are pretty rough in parts, and Cavagna is riding on the edge looking for some smooth tarmac.

Cavagna actually has 40 seconds according to the race graphic, and the pace isn't super high in the bunch. The Polish National Team has come to the front to pitch in.

Now Lotto Soudal come forward in the chasing bunch, and Cavagna is going through Avenue of the Inflatables with 24 seconds.

The peloton is in the same straightaway as the leader - and with a tailwind no less.

5km remaining from 238km

He's not even caught yet but Cavagna looks down at his fried quads and breathes a sigh. He's done. Caught with 5km to go.

4km remaining from 238km

Attack LottoNl-Jumbo with 3.8km to go.

It's Martijn Keizer. An ill-advised attack, he's not gotten much real estate at all. He'll be caught with 3km to go.

Boomerang breakaway, Keizer goes straight back. Astana pick the pace up as Sky move forward.

2km remaining from 238km

There's so much chaos at the front as the lead-out men are desperately fighting for position.

Maybe Sagan learned from watching Kittel in the Tour and is hanging back to let them burn themselves out?

Here come Trek-Segafredo and Sunweb up the right side. 1km to go.

Final turn, 900m to go, Trek at the fore.

Sky lead with Van Poppel and Here comes Orica!

Bumping between Ewan and Sagan.

Ewan gets low and wobbly, but he pulls ahead and takes the win.

Looked like Danny Van Poppel was second over Sagan and Boy Van Poppel

Modolo was fifth, with Manzin behind.

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 5:38:49
2 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
6 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
7 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
8 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
9 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
10 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

Sagan did bump Ewan pretty smartly in the sprint, but it seemed more Ewan's fault for coming off his teammate's wheel to the left rather than Sagan moving right.

Sagan leads his teammate Majka by 16 seconds. We suspect that Teuns is missing from the provisional results...

Indeed he was, here are the actual top 10 GC

General classification after stage 4

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 15:41:47
2 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:16
4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:20
5 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:25
6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:28
7 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:29
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:29
9 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:34
10 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:34

General classification after stage 4

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 15:41:47
2 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:16
4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:20
5 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:25
6 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:00:27
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:28
8 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:29
9 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:29
10 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:34

The provisional results of course are subject to change, but the last post should be accurate. Check back at our report page for full results, photos and a report to come!

We've also got a good stage of Tour of Utah today, with the mountain finish at Snowbasin.

The sun sets on this stage of the Tour de Pologne, and the generators on the inflatables are switched to off. They'll be back up and running tomorrow for stage 5 to Rzeszow. Join us for live again tomorrow! Thanks for reading.

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