Stage win lands Morajko just shy of GC lead

After winning national championship title last week, Jacek Morajko proved to be in a great shape by outsprinting Pasquale Muto (Miche) at the end of stage 4 of Course de Solidarnosc et des Champions Olympiques.

"It's a great victory since I won in my hometown," Morajko said. "My team Mroz ActiveJet is really strong, and it's been proving that throughout the whole year. Today my teammates did a great job especially on the decisive ascent. Tomorrow we will face a very tough stage and anything can happen. We will try to stay in the front, but we will have to watch out for the Italians and Xacobeo Galicia's riders."

The former race leader and the winner of the stage one, Adam Wadecki (Aktio Group Mostostal Pulawy), didn't start the stage due to a hand fracture.

The first two hours of racing were ridden at a very fast pace as many escape attempts were neutralized by the bunch. Marek Rutkiewicz (Mroz ActiveJet) and Marcin Wolski (Romet Weltour Debica) were the first two riders to try to get away, but they were reeled in after 15 kilometers.

The next attack came from the group of 17 riders which included Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice), Gustavo Dominguez and Ezequiel Mosquera (both Xacobeo Galicia), Mariusz Witecki, Mateusz Komar and Piotr Osinski (all Mróz ActiveJet), Dariusz Baranowski and Bartosz Grubka (both Romet Weltour Debica), Luca Ascani and Davide Torosantucci (both CDC Cavaliere), Fortunato Baliani (Miche), Leopold Konig (PSK Whirlpool Author), Henning Bommel (LKT Brandenburg), Eric Baumann (NetApp), Sebastian Forke (Nutrixxion Sparkasse), and Luka Mezgec and Jan Tranik (both Zheroquadro Radenska). The peloton let them build up a 40-second lead and caught them before the midway point.

At kilometer 90, Klemen Stimulak (Zheroquadro Radenska) decided to take off by himself and he quickly gained six-minute advantage. A chase group containing Michal Kwiatkowski (Polish National Team), Patrik Tybor (Dukla Trencin Merida), Andrei Krasilnikau (Bielarus National Team) and Vitaliy Popkov (ISD Continental) tried to bridge the gap, but as soon as they passed Stimulak they were absorbed by the bunch.

Jacek Morajko and Pasquale Muto (Miche) made the decisive move on the category three climb. They got away and pulled one-minute gap on the peleton. They managed to maintain it until they entered the city of Kielce, when the duo shifted their focus to concentrating on the final sprint.

Morajko came off Muto's wheel to win the sprint and stage. Tom Meeusen (Telenet Fidea) took third as he was the fastest rider from the peloton, which crossed the line 10 seconds behind the Polish champion.

Andre Schulze maintained the leader's jersey although now he has the same time as the winner Morajko, who moved into second overall.

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