Tour de Pologne: De Clercq holds off chasers to win in Zakopane

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Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Soudal) soloed to the win on stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne from Nowy Sacz to Zakopane. The Belgian finished ahead of Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) and Sebastian Reichenbach (IAM Cycling), who both finished a handful of seconds in arrears.

De Clercq attacked from a group of ten with just under five kilometres remaining and maintained a small advantage all the way to the line. It capped an excellent performance for Lotto-Soudal, a team that were aggressive at key points in the race.

Sergio Henao (Team Sky) led the rest of the chase group home in fourth. De Clercq now leads the race with Ulissi in second place. Overnight race leader Kamil Zieliński (Poland) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) were both dropped on the climbs before the finish.

The stage was destined to alter the overall complexion of the race with eight categorised climbs on the road to Zakopane. After four relatively flat stages for the sprinters it was time for the GC riders to establish a foothold in the race.

Edward Beltran (Tinkoff-Saxo), Vegard Breen, Kris Boeckmans, Boris Vallée (Lotto-Soudal), Sebastian Turgot (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Grega Bole (CCC Sprandi) attempted to form an early breakaway and established a six-minute lead over the peloton after the opening skirmishes.

Turgot and Boeckmans dropped back soon after, with Team Sky reducing the gap to a more manageable two minutes.

With just over 70 kilometres remaining, Bole and Beltran remained at the head of the race as the remaining Lotto riders slipped back to ensure that De Clercq was sufficiently supported.

Bole and then Beltran’s resistance were eventually broken with 60 kilometres remaining as a quickly shrinking peloton headed towards the final set of climbs.

Sander Armée was the next Lotto rider to assert pressure with a strong attacked on the crest of the Glodowka climb and the rider was briefly allowed some leeway before Team Astana took control.

Fabio Aru’s team reduced the peloton in quick time with Alexey Lutsenko neatly tucked in behind a train that included Diego Rosa, Andrey Zeits, and Paolo Tiralongo.

On the penultimate climb, Sergio Henao accelerated, his turn of speed enough to shed Astana of much of their fighting force, but the Colombian was unable to build any form of a significant lead on a climb not steep enough to exploit his opportunity.

Aru took over on the front for the final climb with Lutsenko on his wheel and when Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin) jumped clear near the summit it was the Astana rider who marked his fellow countryman.

This forced Sky into a frantic chase and on the descent towards the finishing town only around 10 riders were left in contention, including Davide Rebellin, Ulissi, De Clercq, Ben Hermans, Christophe Riblon, Mikel Nieve, Henao, Reichenbach and Ion Izagirre.

Nieve made a move first and he was joined by four more riders, as Cannondale and Lotto combined to neutralize the move.

With so little collaboration in the leading pack when they reformed, it was only a matter of time before another attack would come. De Clercq duly obliged and although the gradient rose inside the final two kilometres, the Belgian had enough to take the win, with the bonus seconds helping to ensure that he would also pull on the leader’s yellow jersey.

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