Michael Kwiatkowski claimed stage 4 of this year’s Tour of Britain today, after beating Albert Timmer and Dylan Teuns on the finishing climb in Bristol.
Today’s victory not only netted the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider the stage victory, but also moved him up into the overall race lead.
Race Highlights
A breakaway group of 9 riders got away earlier on in today’s stage. And, from there, the escapees succeeded in building up a substantial gap of 5 minutes over the peloton.
However, as the race reached the 75 kilometer mark, their advantage began to dwindle. And, a further 50 kilometers later, they began to fall within the grasp of the peloton.
As a result, Peter Velits attacked from within the breakaway, while Albert Timmer and Lasse Norman Hansen followed.
During the final kilometers, the trio continued to hold an advantage of around one minute over the chase, but it soon fell to less than that during the remaining 5 kilometers.
Back in the chase, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and IAM Cycling led the chase, followed by Team Sky.
With 2.8 kilometers remaining, Velits once again initiated an attack on the start of the final climb, but his breakaway companions were right there to mark his move.
With the peloton continuing to close in, Timmer counterattacked on the steepening grade, subsequently opening up a slight lead.
However, back in the chase group, Jack Bauer made his move, followed by Nicholas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo), in attempt to catch the leaders on the final climb.
Bauer caught Timmer in the closing 1.6 kilometers. And, from there, the duo proceeded to ride into the final kilometer together – with Roche chasing just a few seconds behind.
Timmer came around Bauer on the inside of the final right corner to open up the sprint. However, Bauer was unable to respond to the Giant-Shimano rider’s move.
However, during the final few hundred meters, Kwiatkowski managed to bridge his way to the leaders, and with final burst of acceleration – blasted past the duo to seize the stage victory.
Meanwhile, Timmer finished second, while Teuns rounded out the podium in third.
Stage 4 Results
POL 1 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 4:19:09 NED 2 TIMMER, Albert (GIANT-SHIMANO) BEL 3 TEUNS, Dylan (BMC RACING) NZL 4 BAUER, Jack (GARMIN SHARP) ESP 5 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) IRL 6 ROCHE, Nicolas (TINKOFF-SAXO) GBR 7 SWIFT, Ben (SKY) + 6 GER 8 ZABEL, Rick (BMC RACING) ITA 9 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BARDIANI CSF) FRA 10 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING)
General Classification after Stage 4 POL 1 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 15:49:33 ITA 2 ZARDINI, Edoardo (BARDIANI CSF) + 3 BEL 3 TEUNS, Dylan (BMC RACING) + 14 IRL 4 ROCHE, Nicolas (TINKOFF-SAXO) ESP 5 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 23 GBR 6 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY) + 27 ESP 7 LOPEZ GARCIA, David (SKY) CZE 8 KONIG, Leopold (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 29 SUI 9 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (IAM CYCLING)
FRA 10 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING) + 45
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