After being disappointed for missing out on stage four, Ben Swift (Team Sky) bounced back to take victory in the hilly fifth stage of the Tour of Poland between Rabka Zdroj and Zakopane. The British sprinter took victory on the uphill drag finishing straight after closing a 25 metre gap to Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale), who had sprinted clear. Swift made it up to the two riders, just as Viviani was about to launch himself from behind Matthews’ wheel; he easily came around the Italian however, who beat his handlebars in frustration as they crossed the line.
Matthews was unable to continue sustaining what had been a very long sprint, and was overtaken by both Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) in the race for third.
“I’m really happy with the result,” said Swift afterwards. “It was quite a long sprint and I had to go really early as I saw that Matthews and Viviani had a good gap.
“Stages like that are always strange as it depends how the peloton race it,” he explained. “The climbs weren’t too difficult but it could have been a different story if the GC guys had really hit out. I felt really good and I could ride at the front up the climbs, as well as having some great protection from the guys. Once I knew I was climbing well and saw that I could respond to a few attacks it gave me a lot of confidence for the sprint.
“I knew that the form was good coming into the race but I’ve had a little bit of bad luck along the way,” the British sprinter added. “I had the puncture on the first stage and then I got the win which was really nice. Yesterday I was quite disappointed as the guys did such a fantastic job. To get beat on the line was disappointing, not only for myself but for the guys after they’d done such a good job. Today it was nice to get another win and pay them back.”
The 163.1km stage was characterised by the five-man break from Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Mickaël Delage (FDJ-BigMat), Bert De Backer (ARG), Rafael Andriato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) and Davide Mucelli (Utensilnord-Named). Ignatiev dropped the rest and continued alone, but he was caught at the top of the final climb with just 22km to go.
There was an immediate counterattack from British champion Ian Stannard (Team Sky), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan), Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank). Bakelants too decided to go it alone as they arrived at the base of the final climb, with eight kilometres to go, but he was eventually closed down with three still to race, just before he reached the top.
There was then a battle for control of the peloton between the sprinters’ teams, until Matthews launched his bid for the line.
In the battle for the general classification, stage one winner Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale) managed to take second place over the line of the second intermediate sprint, ahead of yellow jersey Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), to reduce the Polish rider’s lead to just a single second. Both riders finished in the front group however, with neither featuring in the finish line bonuses and so Kwiatkowski held onto his race lead for another day.
Ignatiev leads the break then goes alone but can’t hang on
The stage began with an 80km leg, followed by two laps of a hilly 39.9km circuit. The five-man group escaped early on, and gained four minutes as Kwiatkowski’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step team rode tempo behind it. As it arrived at the circuit however, Ignatiev attacked and went away alone; behind the Russian, the rest of the group were gradually picked up by the peloton until only Delage remained.
As the crossed the line at the end of the first lap, Ignatiev was 2’05” ahead of the Frenchman, with the peloton at three minutes. Delage picked up before he reached the top of the first climb however, but Ignatiev persisted and took the intermediate sprint with 34,2km to go.
Moser launched himself from a long way out on the uphill approach to the line, and Kwiatkowski was unable to come around him as he took second place, 1’43” behind the Russian. Rabobank took over on the front once more and quickly began to close down the lone Russian’s lead.
When the peloton was within 25 seconds of Ignatiev, David Lopez (Movistar) attacked and quickly rode past him. The Spanish rider was unable to get far away however, as Liquigas-Cannondale quickly closed him down. As he was caught though Ian Stannard (Team Sky) jumped away, and the British champion managed to open up a gap, he was quickly passed by a counter move from Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) and Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale), who led him over the top of the final climb with 21.5km to go.
Bodnar and Bakelants got away together on the descent, but Stannard was still chasing with Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) and they caught them with just over 15km to go. Omega Pharma-Quick Step was now leading the peloton with Rabobank, and were holding the four leaders at 20 seconds.
With 10km to go though, the four leaders had opened up their advantage to 25 seconds and were still working well together as they approached the final climb. Bakelants jumped as soon as the road began to rise, and Bodnar was dropped, but Stannard and Marycz were still chasing.
Garmin-Sharp was leading the peloton up the climb behind them, and quickly picked up the two chasers, but Bakelants was still clear with four kilometres to go. As riders began to attack the peloton behind him though, the Belgian was caught at the top of the climb.
Team Sky fought for the front of the peloton with Liquigas-Cannondale into the final two kilometres, but on the steady drag to the line it was impossible for any team to take control.
Pier Paolo De Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) was the first to launch his sprint, but he was quickly passed by Matthews, who had Viviani tucked in behind them. The two riders had opened up a 25 metre gap on the drag to the line, but Swift was steadily closing it, and he arrived at Viviani’s back wheel just as the Italian launched his own sprint. The British rider easily came around the Italian, to take his second stage of the race.
Kwiatkowski finished in sixth but, with both him and Moser missing out on the finish line bonuses, he held onto his yellow jersey by a slim one second margin.