Aidis Kruopis Sprints to Victory in Poland – Swift 2nd

Britain’s Ben Swift was beaten into second place by Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEedge) on the fourth stage of the Tour of Poland. Theo Bos was third.

“This is a special victory for me and the team,” said Kruopis. “ORICA-GreenEDGE has shown their faith in me, and it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to win in Poland. I’m happy to show the team what I could do.”

Ben Swift meanwhile said “I’m disappointed to not win after the team did such a fantastic job,” said Swift after the stage. “[Kruopis] is a very good rider. He did a brave move coming up very close to the barrier. I saw him on the inside and I wanted to close the gap but I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. We still have the last sprint stage in Krakow so we’ll look forward to that one.”

The shortest stage of the Polish Tour began with local circuit laps in the start town of Bedzin. Forty kilometers took the peloton from the start circuits to the finish circuits in Katowice.

“The break took about 50-55 kilometers to go free,” said Leigh Howard, who provided the final lead out for Kruopis. “Once they went away, the peloton almost immediately took up the chase, and that was the day.”

Heading into the tight final circuit laps, teams fought for positions at the front of the pack. “Everyone wanted to be at the front,” noted Howard. “We had Julian Dean and Jens Mouris hit the circuits on the front because they were still working to bring back the break.”

Mission accomplished, Dean and Mouris peeled off the front and left Howard and Mitch Docker to assist Kruopis in the sprint. “Mitch kept the pace high and Leigh lead me to 800 meters,” explained Kruopis. “I went around the last corner behind the Sky train. I was just behind Swift, and he had two teammates in front of him. They pulled until he opened his sprint. At 100 meters, I started sprinting. I passed Swift, and I won.”

Kruopis feels both satisfied and relieved with his first WorldTour victory. “I had some problems in the middle part of the season,” admitted Kruopis. “I spent ten days in Slovenia riding in the mountains to get in the best shape I could for Tour of Poland. I wanted to improve myself and show the team that I could do something here.”

Tour of Poland now travels to the mountains for two hilly stages. Daniel Teklehaimanot will look to defend his lead in the mountains classification this weekend before the race conclusion in Krakow on Monday. “The last stage is quite similar to the type of stage we raced today,” noted Kruopis. “I need to survive the upcoming mountains, and if I do, I think there could be something there for me on Monday.”

Kwiatkowski Takes Over GC Lead for Omega Pharma – Quick-Step

Michal Kwiatkowski, who is Polish, took over the leav in the Tour of Poland. He was 2nd overall going into the stage, trailing Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale). However, his time gap was so narrow that all he needed was intermediate sprint points to take over the lead. He won a sprint, and is now at the top of the GC rankings. Tom Boonen was crucial to taking the sprint points, leading him out and also taking 2nd.

“I’m over the moon,” Kwiatkowski said.”The public sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, even though my birthday was June 2nd. My family and my girlfriend were also at the race. It was amazing!”

“It’s one of the most important moments of my career. It was an emotional moment when I wore the yellow jersey in front of the public of my country. I always dreamt about it. Even my familiy was here, it was an unique moment. Concerning the race, the team did a great job. At the bonification sprint Tom showed what kind of a great champion he is.”

“He pulled for me and I won the sprint gaining 3 seconds. At that point we tried also to organize a train for the sprint but it was a little bit too dangerous so we decided to not take any risks. I’m really happy. I’m entering in the most important phase of the race with a great morale. Tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, will be a fight on the mountains, but we are ready. The team is strong and I feel good. I will try until the end to defend this jersey.”