Boasson Hagen takes messy sprint

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen scored Team Columbia-HTC's first win of the Tour of Poland by leading out his teammate and overall leader Andre Greipel so well that the German did not come past him at the line. However, the judges later relegated Greipel following a protest by Quick Step's Allan Davis.

"I tried to do the lead-out for Andre but things got a bit stressful in the last corner which was close to the finish," Boasson Hagen said. "We almost crashed and I didn't know afterwards if Andre was behind me or not, so I kept going.

"Finally, though, I got the win and it all worked out for the best."

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The tight situation on the general classification led to a vicious battle for control leading into the final metres of the race. Liquigas, hoping to propel its young sprinter Jacopo Guarnieri into the race lead, took control coming into the final kilometre.

The Italian squad was soon replaced by the Quick Step team, hoping to help the Australian Davis to the lead. Yet Team Columbia has perfected its lead-out train, and nobody, not Sicilian strong-man Danilo Napolitano, and not Davis could edge the determined Greipel from his teammate's wheel.

But Greipel's tactic for regaining his position behind Boasson Hagen from Davis, which involved grabbing Davis' jersey, led to his disqualification.

Silence-Lotto's Jurgen Roelandts, who took the third spot ahead of Napolitano and Frenchman Steve Chainel (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), was awarded the race lead.

The racers enjoyed pleasant weather for the Tour's longest stage from Nałęczów to Rzeszów - a flat and featureless marathon of 238km. The day's breakaway went early, with Tomas Vaitkus (Astana), Nicolas Rousseau (AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthony Roux (Française Des Jeux) gaining nearly five minutes before the distance put the gap in favour of the chasing peloton.

Team Columbia-HTC worked steadily to bring the leaders back just before the finishing circuits. Mateusz Taciak (Team Poland) put in a late attack in attempt to bridge to the trio, but failed to reach them. Soon later, the leaders were brought back into the fold and the high pace thwarted any further action.

The final kilometre was a full on battle between the top sprinters, who had one of their final chances for glory before the race heads into the mountains on Thursday.