Kwiatkowski wins stage 4 in Tour of Britain

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Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) moved into the overall lead at the Tour of Britain after claiming a dramatic win on stage 4 into Bristol. The previous day’s summit finish at the Tumble and Sunday’s concluding time trial were supposed to be the two key moments of this race, but the Pole’s invention – and strength – saw him place a significant down payment on final overall victory.

Kwiatkowski summoned up the strength to overhaul escapees Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano) and Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) in the final 400 metres after the peloton had fragmented on the sharp final climb of Bridge Valley Road on the outskirts of the city.

The victory earned him a 10-second time bonus and has put him 3 seconds clear of Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF) at the head of the overall standings. Perhaps more pertinently, he now has a buffer of some 27 seconds over Bradley Wiggins (Sky) ahead of that London finale.

Yet when Bauer had forged across to Timmer – the last survivor of the day’s early break – at the top of the climb with two kilometres remaining, it seemed as though the pair would decide the stage honours between them and the general classification picture might remain largely unchanged.

Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked near the summit of the climb, however, and he battle gamely to claw back their advantage over the top, eventually attracting Kwiatkowski and the impressive youngster Dylan Teuns (BMC) with him.

Yellow jersey Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky), meanwhile, were scrambling to stay on terms as the peloton stretched and then splintered over the top of the climb, and by the close of business, they could get within six seconds of Kwiatkowski.

Out in front, Bauer was generous in his efforts and he led the race deep into the final kilometre, below cleverly manoeuvring Timmer into first place on the final corner. Unfortunately for the leading pair, however, the chasers were almost upon them, and Timmer had scarcely time to open his sprint before Kwiatkowski scorched past, seemingly at twice his speed.

That ferocious burst in the final 400 metres brought Kwiatkowski stage victory, while Timmer held off Teuns, Bauer, Jon Izaguirre (Movistar) and Roche for second place. Zardini and Wiggins came home 6 seconds down in the second group, which was led across the line by Ben Swift (Sky).

Kwiatkowski’s Omega Pharma-QuickStep team was active throughout the day in chasing down the 9-man break that animated proceedings, although it seemed that they had mistimed their pursuit when three of the original escapees – Timmer, Peter Velits (BMC) and Lasse Norman Hansen (Garmin-Sharp) – held a lead of over a minute inside the final 10 kilometres.

That advantage melted away on the fast approach to Bridge Valley Road, however, and that short, sharp climb inspired another shift in the general classification picture. Kwiatkowski now leads Zardini by 3 seconds, while Teuns and Roche are 14 seconds back. Wiggins, meanwhile, slips to 6th, 27 seconds down.

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