Phinney solos to victory in stage 4 at the Tour of Poland

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After delivering teammate Thor Hushovd to victory in the Tuesday's sprint finish, Taylor Phinney gave BMC its second straight stage win at the Tour of Poland on Wednesday in Katowice, with a performance of a true finisseurs.

The 23-year-old American attacked the peloton with just over seven kilometres remaining and had the speed, power and courage to hold off the field for a hard-earned solo victory. Steele Von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) edged Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R La Mondiale) in the field sprint for second but they only formed the frame to Phinney's work of cycling art. It was Phinney's first road race victory as a professional and his first win since the final stage of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge last summer.

"This is how I always dreamed of winning – foiling the sprinter's plans at the end of the race," Phinney said. "It was sort of a Fabian Cancellara-style, Milan-San Remo victory scenario. It's really amazing to have it happen and it was a great feeling to finally put my hands up."

Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) finished safely in the main peloton after the 231km stage and so remains in the leader's yellow jersey with the same four second advantage over Sergio Henao (Sky) while Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) holds third at six seconds.

The battle for overall success will likely explode on Thursday's hilly 160km fifth stage from Nowy Targ to Zakopane.

The hero of the day

Phinney was the hero of the day and rightly let out a huge roar when he crossed the line. He had braved everything and perhaps risked Thor Hushovd's chances of taking a second stage victory. However it was the right decision and Phinney clearly knew he had the speed to win.

By attacking with seven kilometres to go, Phinney surprised the sprinters teams and no one team wanted to commit to take up the chase. He managed to open a significant gap and also held it in the rising penultimate kilometre. On the downhill final kilometre he was able to travel at the same speed as the sprinters, while they were unable to fight for position and close the gap.

"With six-man teams here, I thought it would be harder to bring guys back, but nobody came with me," Phinney said. "So I just put my head down and decided I wasn't going to look back and slowly commit to it and give it everything I had. It was twisty and turning enough that I could maintain a lot of speed. I had a lot of power, but the last couple of kilometers were excruciatingly painful. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be one of those finishes where the guy gets passed 20 meters before the line."

It was a masterful display of cycling that rightly earned him lots of praise.

How it happened

The 231km stage was the longest stage in this year's Tour of Poland and so meant an early wake up and long day in the saddle for the riders. As a result the peloton was happy when a nine-rider strong break escaped early in the stage, knowing that there was plenty of time to reel them in.

The move was comprised of Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dirk Bellemakers (Lotto Belisol), Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp-Endura), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Fabio Duarte (Colombia), Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice) plus Pawel Franczak and Kamil Gradek (Poland). Bellemakers's teammate Francis De Greef was also in the move but dropped back when the move was established.

The remaining eight escapees built up a maximum lead approaching five minutes but the peloton kept them in check. By the time they reached the first of four 12.3km finishing circuits in Katowice their advantage had dropped inside of 1:30. The peloton was in tight control, easing and accelerating to ensure the break was not caught too quickly.

Cooperation eventually ceased in the breakaway in the final two laps of the circuit as riders went out on the attack. Ladagnous put in a strong attack but was caught, with Gradek seemingly more determined and ultimately the last man standing. The young Pole entered the final circuit alone with a slender seven-second lead on the hard-charging peloton, but was caught at 11km to go.

Valerio Agnoli (Astana) attacked with 8.3km remaining, but his move was soon neutralised and then Phinney launched a solo counter-attack of his own. The powerhouse pursuiter and time trialist clawed out a bit of daylight and with four kilometres remaining, a very familiar distance for pursuit expert Phinney, the 23-year-old American had stretched his lead to 15 seconds.

Belkin led the chase and then Orica-GreenEdge led the peloton under the flamme rouge but the field's pursuit was not 100% and fell just short of catching Phinney, who led by just enough to put his hands up in victory at the finish line.

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