Tour de Pologne stage 4: Paul Magnier blasts ahead of Ben Turner for victory on uphill drag to the finish

Paul Magnier sped to his fifth victory of the season, and Soudal-QuickStep’s 29th, on stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne, getting the jump on Ineos Grenadiers on the final bend in Cieszyn.

For the second day in a row, the British squad controlled the final kilometre of the race, with Michał Kwiatkowski leading out stage 3 winner Ben Turner. However, it was the French 21-year-old who went first on the uphill finish, coming around both Kwiatkowski and Turner before the British rider launched.

It was the early launch, and Magnier’s superior speed, which saw him sail to the win, comprehensively beating Turner to the line as Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium.

The mass sprint finish at the conclusion of 201km stage didn’t make any difference to the top of the general classification. Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) holds the top spot following his stage 2 win.

The Frenchman continues to lead Victor Langellotti (Ineos Grenadiers) by eight seconds, while Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) lies third at 12 seconds.

Friday’s stage 5 is expected to shake things up in the battle for the yellow jersey, however, with two first-category climbs among 2,800 metres of climbing on the 206km race from Katowice to Zakopane.

How it unfolded

Following a challenging, neutralisation-disrupted third stage of the Tour de Pologne, stage 4 of the race was one suited to the sprint teams, albeit one with three categorised climbs in the middle of the 201km from Rybnik to Cieszyn.

A largely flat run started the day on the road to the first-category Przelecz Przegibek (4.1km at 5.7%) after 88km, with the second-category Orle Gniazdo (2km at 7.9%) following at 121km and then the highest point of the day, the first-category Przelecz Salmopol (5.3km at 5.8%) after 132km.

From there, the riders faced a long descent down towards Ciezyn and the entry to the closing circuit, where they’d complete three laps and tackle a 700-metre, 3.9% drag to the line.

Right from the start, a trio of Polish riders jumped out of the peloton. Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) went up the road along with Polish national team riders Paweł Bernas and Michał Pomorski.

Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-QuickStep settled in to work at the front of the peloton, limiting the breakaway’s advantage to a maximum of 3:40. That gap was down to 2:20 by the time the riders hit the first hill of the day, however, with Bernas leading the race over the top.

Back in the peloton, mountain classification Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck) nipped out to grab three points towards his lead. He added another point at the day’s second climb, continuing his move on the descent to try and bridge the minute gap to the leaders on Przelecz Salmopol.

Up front, Pomorski had dropped from the break on Orle Gniazdo, but the move was soon a trio again as Kielich got across with 71km to go. He duly grabbed the 10 points at the top of the climb, taking his mountain points total to 41 – double that of second-placed Tomasz Budziński (Poland).

The group held 1:20 over the top, but their time was numbered. Heading into the final 50km, Kielich led the way over the two bonus sprints while Bernas dropped back. Kielich then let go, too, leaving just Maciejuk out front with 44km remaining.

The 25-year-old kept battling on alone as Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Lotto, and Bahrain Victorious joined Soudal-QuickStep at the head of the peloton. He carried a 50-second lead onto the final circuit with 27km standing between him and an unlikely victory.

On the second passage through the line, 19km from the line, Maciejuk’s advantage had dropped by 15 seconds, while behind him, Lorenzi Milesi (Movistar) attacked from the peloton. The Italian bridged across to Maciejuk with 14km to go, but behind the duo, the peloton chased with just a 10-second deficit.

Ineos Grenadiers inserted themselves into the chase heading into the final 10km, but the two leaders held on through the finish line for the penultimate time, still hanging on to 10 seconds with 6km to run.

It was the combined efforts of Ineos and Alpecin-Deceuninck which finally brought the break back 2.5km from the finish. Groupama-FDJ were also in the mix on the final approach, leading into the final kilometre with two on the front.

The French squad were usurped by Magnus Sheffield, Michał Kwiatkowski, and Ben Turner heading under the flamme rouge, however, as Ineos once again controlled the final lead out.

However, a second stage win in a row wasn’t to be for Turner, with Paul Magnier’s timing and finishing speed delivering him to his first WorldTour win.

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