Tour de Pologne Stage 4: Three Riders Decide Stage, Kwiatkowski Top Finisher

Etixx - Quick-Step rider Michal Kwiatkowski kept himself well protected, thanks to great work by his teammates until the final kilometers, and finished 26th in the 220km Tour de Pologne Stage 4, from Jaworzno to Nowy Sacz, on Wednesday. As a result of staying safe near the front and with the peloton, he is 9th overall (+28") behind new race leader Kamil Zielinski (Polish National Team).

Several of the GC leaders going into the stage were dropped, causing a shuffle in the classification by stage end. 

Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) won by at least a bike length over his other two breakaway companions. Zielinski finished 2nd, and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) finished in 3rd place. Those three crossed the finish line 20" ahead of the peloton. 

Petr Vakoc and Michal Golas did a great job in the finale to keep Kwiatkowski near the front. Kwiatkowski moved up from 11th place overall going into the stage. 

The breakaway was given a big time gap during the stage, and with 4.8km to go they still had a 1 minute advantage over the peloton. 

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to Stage 5 on Thursday. Stage 5, 223km in total, will be a day for the climbing specialists to make their claim for the GC, with eight categorized climbs and an uphill finish.