Martin makes his move

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Daniel Martin (Garmin-Transitions) made a big step today in his bid to win the overall classification at the Tour de Pologne. After an amazing solo effort the Irishman took the victory on the uphill finish at Rownica and claimed the yellow jersey with a 14-second lead over Grega Bole, who took second on the stage.

Stage five at the Tour de Pologne was the day that all the GC contenders have been waiting for as they faced five first category ascents plus the climb to the finish at Równica, something that can do some damage in the peloton and separate the strongest riders from others.

"I was hoping to win on Rownica, but I hadn't expected that I will wear the yellow jersey after that stage. It's a great feeling to be a leader of the race," said Martin. "We came to Poland with a very strong roster and our goal is to win the general classification.

"We managed to claim the jersey today and we will try to maintain it to the very end. We are aware that it's not going to be an ease job. There are many strong opponents who want that win as much as we do. One of them is Sylvester Szmyd, who showed today that he's feeling great on the climbs.

"We as a team are in a very comfortable situation since my teammate, Tom Danielson sits in 10th place and it will be easier for us to control the situation. For him the Polish race is a preparation for the Vuelta a España and he's already in a great shape."

There was an active start to the stage, with numerous riders trying to go clear, but after approximately 30km three men finally managed to separate themselves from the peloton. The breakaway included Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Doimo), Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) and Ben Swift (Team Sky) and at the 80km mark they reached their maximum advantage of four minutes. Lampre-Farnese Vini, the team of race leader Mirco Lorenzetto, was doing most of the work in the front of the bunch and was slowly reducing the break’s lead.

Bozic has always been known for great sprinting abilities but this time he showed some secret skills in the mountains by winning the first two KOMs. Another fast man in the field, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo), didn't have such a good day and had to abandon the race due to gastric problems.

When the peloton hit the base of the climb for the third time, yesterday’s escapee and leader of the mountains classification Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) jumped from the peloton to pick up points in the KOM competition. He was followed by Martin Reimer (Cervelo TestTeam) and Mateusz Taciak (Poland BGZ) and they joined the Dutch rider on the descent.

With 37km to go the two trios became one sextet at the head of affairs and held a one minute advantage on the bunch. Just before the top of the penultimate climb Bodnar and Reimer were dropped and were absorbed by the 35-man chase group.

On the top of the penultimate first category climb Hoogerland outsprinted Taciak and moved closer to the title of the best climber for the race. The four leaders were then caught with 29km remaining.

On the finals ascent of the first category climb a solo attack was launched by Tom Stubbe (Omega Pharma-Lotto) but he was quickly brought back to the group which was led by Caisse d’Epargne and two Polish climbers, Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas-Doimo) and Marek Rutkiewicz (Poland BGZ). The latter won the last KOM of the day.

The peloton approached the 6km climb to the finish all together but when Astana and Garmin-Transitions picked up the pace the group shattered immediately. Daniel Martin decided to take advantage of the work done by his teammates and broke clear with 4km to go.

Nobody was able to bridge the gap and the 23-year-old Irish rider crossed the finish line by himself and claimed his first victory this season. Twenty seconds later, the group was led in by Grega Bole (Lampre-Farnese Vini) for second place with Szmyd in third.