Tour de Pologne 2013: Stage 5

Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage five of the Tour of Poland. Today's 160km hilly stage is between Nowy Targ and Zakopane.  

The fifth stage of the Tour of Poland has seen plenty of attacks early in the action and a break of seven riders currently has close to a five-minute lead on the peloton.

14 riders formed an early move and then local hero Sylvester Szmyd (Movistar) also tried his hand but they were chased down by the peloton.

The break of the day eventually formed just before the first categories climb after 40km of fast racing.

The stage is scheduled to finish at close to 7:00pm local time and so started in the early afternoon. 

We will have live coverage until the end of the stage.

The riders in the move are: Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mathias Frank (BMC), Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM), Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ.fr), Jacek Morajko and Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC Polsat) and Pawel Cieslik (Poland).

Darwin Atapuma (Colombia) was in the move but has been distanced.

Marczynski has been aggressive in the breakaway. He attacked on one climb and has been the first to the top on two others.

Thomas Rohregger (Radioshack) currently leads the climber's competition but could lose the jersey today.

Taylor Phinney (BMC) won the stage yesterday with an impressive late solo attack. You can read about it and see a great photo gallery of all the action here. 

This is a great photo of Phinney as he celebrates his victory.

According to reports from the race, the breakaway now has a lead of 2:15.

65km remaining from 160km

The riders face another hilly 65km of racing. 

Behind the Colombian team is leading the chase. They want a stage victory in the mountains.

47km remaining from 160km

The break will soon be done with the initial 40.5km finishing circuit and will be facing one more lap.

With 47km to do the break's lead is down to 2:00

Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM) dropped back to his team car to load up on food/drinks.

Colombia still setting tempo in the peloton/p>

40km remaining from 160km

The seven leaders have completed the first 40.5km lap with one more remaining.

Colombia leads the peloton onto the final 40.5km circuit. Hopefully the cars parked on the finish line, which both the break and field avoided, will be moved by the finish!

The break's lead is now at 1:02

The 40.5km circuit packs a punch with both a category 1 and category 2 climb. The category 1 ascent, 8km in length is situated half way through the circuit while the category 2 climb, 7km long, tops out just 3.1km from the finish.

Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), in the break, has a word with his team car.

The break is down to five riders as Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ) and Pawel Ciesli (Poland) have been dropped.

Team Colombia is still setting the pace in the peloton. Overall leader Rafa Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) is near the front of the peloton, resplendent in the yellow jersey.

32km remaining from 160km

The break's lead has dropped inside of one minute, at 42 seconds, with 32km remaining.

The general classification situation is still rather tight, with the top 11 riders separated by only 20 seconds. Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) leads Sergio Henao (Sky) by four seconds and Christophe Riblon (AG2R Mondiale) by six seconds.

A pair of NetApp-Endura riders attack from the peloton: Bartosz Huzarski and Leopold Konig. Huzarski puts in a hard pull and leaves Konig on his own off the front.

Konig has been chased down.

Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC Polsat) attacks the break and is alone in the lead.

Mathias Frank (BMC) is towing the remainder of the break back to the CCC Polsat rider. The peloton has the break in sight.

26km remaining from 160km

With 26.5km to go the peloton is about to make contact with the break.

A re-shuffling is taking place at the head of the race...

Four riders - Lotto Belisol, Katusha, Garmin-sharp and Argos-Shimano - on the attack

23km remaining from 160km

Cannondale is on the front as the the breaks have been neutralised. Peloton intact with 23km to go.

Mountains leader Thomas Rohregger (RadioShack Leopard) at the front at the Cat. 1 KOM.

A Cannondale rider is now alone in the lead on the descent, in a tuck at 85km/hr

A five-man chase catches the solo Cannondale rider at the front.

18km remaining from 160km

18km to go as a six-man break has a small lead over the peloton

The break includes Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Maciej Paterski (Cannondale), Darwin Atapuma (Colombia), Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack Leopard)

14km remaining from 160km

The break has a 15-second lead over the peloton with 14.5km to go.

Also in the break are Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin) and Sergei Chernetski (Katusha)

Saxo-Tinkoff has a rider on the front chasing as Christophe Riblon (AG2R) in the virtual leader on the road in the break.

Croatian champion Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack Leopard) is also a GC threat as he started the day in 9th overall at 16 seconds.

8km remaining from 160km

8.5km to go and the break is working smoothly together.

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) now comes to the front of the peloton.

The break's lead is still a tentative 15 seconds at 7.5km to go.

Race leader Raja Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) surges at the head of the peloton, but is quickly brought back. He sits second in line now.

6km remaining from 160km

The break's time gap is now at 11 seconds with 6km to go. Riders in the break are beginning to look back to see where the peloton is.

Paterski has jumped away from the break

5km remaining from 160km

With 5km to go, however, the break has been neutralised.

The peloton is on the final categorised climb of the day and attacks are being launched.

Italian champion Ivan Santaromita (BMC) applying pressure.

Three riders hold a slim lead as the peloton approaches the day's final KOM.

3km remaining from 160km

A Euskaltel-Euskadi leads the three-man break across the final KOM

2km remaining from 160km

The break was neutralised and now Eros Capecchi (Movistar) drives the peloton.

The peloton looking rather disorganised as the finish is rapidly approaching.

Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (BMC) at the front looking around for teammates.

1km remaining from 160km

The peloton is under the flamme rouge...1km to go!

Garmin-Sharp rider on the front.

Lead-out comes from Team Sky.

Sprint is winding up

And Thor Husovd (BMC) powers around the Sky train and takes his second stage win in three days. BMC has claimed three straight stages as Taylor Phinney won yesterday.

Sergio Henao was the rider Sky was leading out, hoping for bonus seconds, but the young Colombian failed to crack the top three.

Second on the stage went to Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ) followed by Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) in third.

Top 10 for stage:

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team 3:54:40
2 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:00
3 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:00
4 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano 0:00:00
5 David Tanner (Aus) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:00
6 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:00
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:00
8 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:00
9 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Argos-Shimano 0:00:00
10 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Argos-Shimano 0:00:00

It looks like due to the Tour of Poland's unique daily Attractivity classification that Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) picked up a 10-second bonus. He started the day nine seconds back in 5th place, but has moved into the GC lead by one second over Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff)

Top-10 general classification after stage 5:

1 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25:49:41
2 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:01
3 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:05
4 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:07
5 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:08
6 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:10
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:14
8 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:14
9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:17
10 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:19

Thanks for joining us on today's live coverage of the Tour of Poland. Cyclingnews will be back on Friday with live coverage of stage 6!