Tour de Pologne: Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 4 sprint(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The mass of riders headed to the finish line and stage winner Olav Kooij of Jumbo-Visma on the far right side in Opole(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Olav Kooij of Jumbo-Visma wins stage 4 in Opole ahead of Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Breakaway trio of Sebastian Schönberger of Human Powered Health, Norbert Banaszek and Patryk Stosz of Team Poland (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Jan Hirt of Soudal-QuickStep rides at front of peloton with Laurens De Plus of Ineos Grenadiers(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Callum Scotson of Jayco AlUla competes during stage 4(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
With four riders in the breakaway, it was Sebastian Schönberger of Human Powered Health, Norbert Banaszek of Team Poland, Yevgeniy Gidich of Astana Qazaqstan and Patryk Stosz of Team Poland, out front in the Blue Best Polish Rider Jersey (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) rides at front of peloton(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Early lead group with Norbert Banaszek of Team Poland, Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek, Yevgeniy Gidich of Astana Qazaqstan, Sebastian Schönberger of Human Powered Health and Patryk Stosz of Team Poland, in front with the Blue Best Polish Rider Jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
A general view of the peloton riding across 199.1km from Strzelin to Opole on stage 4(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
A general view of the peloton across the flat countryside for 199.1km from Strzelin to Opole(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Race winner Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) celebrates on podium alongside Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) on second place and Matteo Moschetti (Q365 Pro Cycling Team) on third place(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Matej Mohoric of Bahrain Victorious celebrates at podium in the Yellow leader jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Rafal Majka of UAE Team Emirates celebrates at podium as Best Polish Rider after stage 4(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Patryk Stosz of Team Poland celebrates at podium as most active rider and earns blue jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Tour de Pologne General Director Czeslaw Lang congratulates Jacopo Mosca of Team Lidl-Trek at podium as Polka dot Mountain Jersey winner after stage 4(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Max Walscheid of Cofidis reacts after finishing fourth(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Tosh Van Der Sande (Jumbo-Visma) heads to the start line with Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) in Strzelin(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) took a crushing bunch sprint victory in stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne.
Second on stage 1, Kooij was perfectly positioned behind a Groupama-FDJ rider after the peloton negotiated a right-hand bend with 500 metres to go.
The young Dutchman then easily soared past to claim the second Tour de Pologne victory of his career, several bike lengths ahead of Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5).
After the 199-kilometre flat stage from Strzelin to Opole, Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) remained in the overall lead for a third successive day.
Prolifically successful with 22 wins to his name even though he is only in his second full year as a professional, Kooij, 22, said, “There’s never really one recipe to do every sprint, you always need to look at the finale, make a good plan and that’s what we did today.
“I tried to be in a good position when we went through that last corner and I thought maybe I was a bit too much to the front when I went through second. But when I went for it, I felt good and was able to do a good sprint for the win today.
“I’ll try for another win tomorrow [Wednesday] and then head to the Worlds.”
How it unfolded
As heavy rain showers fell on Pologne for the fourth successive day, five riders took off early. Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek) was in the move for the third straight stage in Pologne, although after picking up some more points for his KOM lead on the one classified climb of the day, the category 3 Strezegomiany at km 36.2, the Italian dropped back to the main bunch.
Sebastian Schönberger (Human Powered Health), Yevgeniy Gidich (Astana Qazaqstan) and Poland National team duo Norbert Banaszek and Patrick Stosz, the latter the leader of the most combative rider competition, all powered on regardless, opening up a gap of around four minutes on the bunch.
Meanwhile behind the leaders, there was a brief but intense attempt by Ineos Grenadiers, sparked by GC contender Michal Kwiatkowski, and UAE Team Emirates to form echelons. Despite the strong winds on the exposed roads of southern Poland, the bunch reformed quickly when it became clear that none of the teams’ main rivals had been caught out.
At that point, the peloton settled back into a default controlling position for the rest of the day. Jumbo-Visma, working for Kooij, and Arkéa-Samsic were the main parties involved in keeping the pace high.
By 70 kilometres to go the French and Dutch squads' combined effort had proved enough to squeeze the leaders’ margin to well under two minutes.
On the long, flat roads into Opole, Jayco AlUla and Ineos Grenadiers added more weight to the chase, at which point Gidich flung in the towel, bringing the move down to three for the final hour of racing.
With 26 kilometres from the line, the trio were finally brought back, although Stosz paid homage to his jersey by trying to stay away for another 500 metres.
The peloton powered on at a deceptively-fast pace for another 15 kilometres, clearly setting things up for a sprint but in no mood to end an undeclared ceasefire. As they reached the outskirts of Opole, Jayco-AIUIa, Ineos Grenadiers, Bora-Hansgrohe and Human Powered Health collectively began to accelerate hard, touching speeds of over 60 kph.
No team managed to control the bunch in the last few kilometres, much of it running on an A’ road next to the River Oder, even if the Ineos line was pushing hard on the left and Jumbo-Visma once again made their presence felt in the centre. Alpecin-Deceuninck then stepped up the pace with two kilometres to go, a string of their riders storming over a railway bridge at the front of the bunch. B
ut then after a Groupama-FDJ rider took a flying start around the final corner for the sprint, Kooij was perfectly positioned behind him and ready to pounce for his seventh victory of this season.
Stage 5 sees Pologne return to much more rugged terrain, with more than 3,000 metres of vertical climbing featuring on a trek through the mountains of southern Poland. However, the 50 kilometres between the final category 1 climb and the grinding uphill finish in Bielsko-Biala, which has featured regularly in past editions of Pologne, could well see a sizable peloton regroup.
“There are four or five climbs before we hit the finishing circuit, which are harder than the years I did this circuit before. It was like a bunch sprint before when we’ve done this finish, but this time there’ll be more of a selection,” predicted Mohorič.
“We’ll try and win the stage, it’ll be very hard but this is our goal, because if we don’t, it’ll be hard to keep my advantage on GC in Thursday’s time trial.”
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
