The fifth stage of the Tour of Poland covered 206 kilometers from Katowice to Zakopane. Officially, there were only two categorized climbs – the Kocierz (4.1 km at 7.3%) and Przelecz Krowiarki (8.6 km at 4.6%), both far from the finish – but the riders also faced several uncategorized ascents. In the finale, there was a climb of just over four kilometers at nearly five and a half percent gradient. The 1120-meter-high summit was located thirteen kilometers from the finish line. After that, the route primarily descended, but the final three kilometers slightly ascended again.
Katowice) Zakopane)Strong breakaway with Artz
In the opening kilometers of the stage, we saw several attacks, but the decisive move came early. Huub Artz (Intermarché-Wanty) quickly broke away along with Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Martin Svrcek (Soudal Quick-Step), and Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla). A strong breakaway group, which Bauke Mollema, Paweł Bernas, and sprinter Arvid de Kleijn also wanted to join. They tried to bridge across but were unsuccessful. The aforementioned quartet formed the definitive early escape.
Artz leads the breakaway group - photo: Cor Vos
In the peloton, multiple teams tried to control the race: Visma | Lease a Bike, Decathlon AG2R, and INEOS Grenadiers each placed a rider at the front. Nevertheless, the attackers built a lead of more than six minutes. Later, that advantage slowly but steadily decreased, and the breakaway riders also had a scare moment. Artz crashed on a descent but thankfully the damage was limited. The Dutchman quickly got back up and was able to reconnect after a short chase.
Bettiol and Christen try their luck
Artz would ultimately hold the longest from the breakaway. He was caught last on the final uncategorized climb of the day. What followed was an attack by Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), then Jan Christen (UAE Emirates XRG) accelerated, and just before the summit, Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) also tried. However, it was only on the descent that two riders managed to establish a good gap. Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) rode away with the previously mentioned Christen.
A two-up sprint seemed to be shaping up briefly, but suddenly the peloton came back fast. With one and a half kilometers to go, the group was reunited. Lidl-Trek, with Sam Oomen at the front, took the lead in the final kilometer.
Tour de Pologne| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04:50:04 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
