Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) got his first WorldTour win in his first season with the Australian team, grabbing stage four of the Tour of Poland ahead of stage two winner Ben Swift (Sky Procycling). It was a flat and fast finish to stage four, in a pure sprinter’s day, with the Lithuanian being the quickest of a number of top riders.
It was the second victory of the season for Kruopis, after stage three of the Tour of Norway in May. He had help from his Orica-GreenEdge team with his positioning in the finale but the 25-year-old carried out the sprint on his own. He found the wheel of Swift with 400 meters to race and came out of his slipstream on the right hand side. It was a short sprint after that, as he left just enough time to come around.
“I didn’t have many lead out guys, and I needed to make a move, so I took a good wheel,” Kruopis said of Swift at the finish. “It was quite a good stage, very fast, and I like to go fast. There was no need to slow down too much in the corners, I quite like that.”
Swift had two Sky team-mates who set him up for the finish and he seemed to have the upper hand, but unlike on stage two, the Brit didn’t have the speed to finish it off.
“I’m a little disappointed, it’s always a shame to not win when the team does such a fantastic job,” Swift stated. “[Kruopis] did a great move. He came up close to the barrier – I saw him come up on the side and I wanted to close it, but I knew that wouldn’t be very nice. [My chances are] not over, we still have the last day, and I’m really looking forward to that stage.”
Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) used a three second time bonus in the middle of the stage to take the overall race lead away from stage one winner Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale). Kwiatkowski had been trailing Moser by just one second in the general classification, and the Pole takes the yellow jersey into Saturday’s queen stage. A distance of 163 kilometres and a total of six times up three different categorized climbs await riders.
Kwiatkowski was ecstatic to get a hold of the race leader’s jersey in his homeland’s biggest race.
“I'm over the moon. The crowds sang 'Happy Birthday' to me, even though my birthday was June 2nd. My family and my girlfriend were also at the race. It was amazing!” the Polish rider gushed.
“It's one of the most important moments of my career. It was an emotional moment when I wore the yellow jersey in front of the public of my country. I always dreamt about it. Even my family was here, so it was a unique moment.”
To help him get the race lead, Kwiatkowski got a launching pad into the intermediate sprint from an unusual but powerful source.
“Concerning the race, the team did a great job,” Kwiatkowski continued. “At the sprint point Tom [Boonen] showed what kind of a great champion he is. He pulled for me and I won the sprint, gaining three seconds. At that point we tried also to organize a train for the sprint but it was a little bit too dangerous so we decided to not take any risks.
“I'm really happy. I'm entering in the most important phase of the race with great morale. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be a fight in the mountains, but we are ready. The team is strong and I feel good. I will try until the end to defend this jersey.”
How the race shaped up:
After several difficult days in a row, the Tour de Pologne served up an easier one on stage four, which spanned 127km from Bedzin to Katowice. Nearly half of those kilometres were completed on circuits around Katowice, with a break of four featured in the town.
Ángel Madrazo (Movistar), Rafael Andriato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Martijn Verschoor (Team Type 1-Sanofi), and Adrian Kurek (Utensilnord Named) had a lead of less than a minute on the final circuits. With 17km to go, their lead was 39 seconds, kept in check by Team Sky.
With the writing on the wall, Verschoor and Madrazo pushed on as the main bunch continued to close in. Andriato and Kurek were reeled in as Verschoor kicked one last time. Madrazo followed briefly before the two shook hands and retreated to the back of the field.
With still nearly 10km to go, the peloton eased up, which sparked an attack from a Polish national rider. Newly crowned Polish national champion Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was in his wheel, but the move was short-lived. At 5km to go, it was all-together again and Sky still had control. Rabobank queued up on the left, with Argos-Shimano and Lampre-ISD near the front as well.
A Katusha rider tried a solo flyer inside the final two kilometres, but Orica-GreenEdge used their fast men to shut it down a final time. They swung off and Sky grabbed the front to line up the finish, with Kruopis in the wheel of Swift.
The Lithuanian took the sprint in a clean race, with Theo Bos (Rabobank) coming home third.