Another day, another strong team performance from Bahrain Victorious at the Tour de Pologne, but this time GC leader Matej Mohorič was edged out by Polish legend Rafal Majka (UAE).

The shortest stage of this year’s race (barring Thursday’s ITT) was lumpy from the start in Walbrzych to the finish at the top of Duszniki-Zdrój. On paper the finale was a short but extremely challenging effort, although on their bikes, the front group were able to take it on without too much difficulty. 

A small break was once again caught in plenty of time, thanks in no small part to the Bahrain riders pulling the peloton. Andrea Pasqualon, Fran Miholjević, Damiano Caruso were particularly prominent as the bunch came back together to contest the victory, and thanks to their work, Matej was there at the sharp end again, only to be denied by Majka.

It was a profile he had earmarked as suited to him beforehand:

“The goal today was to try to win the stage, as I think it was the stage best suited to my characteristics, but I’m a bit disappointed with myself because I hesitated to go first into that last corner. It’s a split second decision and I left a small gap to try to squeeze through if it opened up.”

Approaching a finishing dash to the line, there were two sharp turns, left & then right. As the Slovenian tried to undertake on the left with Miichal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), the path was blocked by the eventual winner covering across. Seeing that door had shut, Kwiatkowski tried to go around on the other side with but this time Majka blocked the right channel, and the road ran out before Matej could pass on the inside.

“I tried to pass on the left side but it was always likely they would close that side, so I had to slow down and speed up again, and I didn’t have enough left to throw the bike on the finish line. So, it was close, and we still have the lead in the GC, which we will try to protect tomorrow. The day after is another possibility for victory, so we’ll keep going day by day.”

It was second place for our GC leader, who retains the yellow jersey by ten seconds over Majka and João Almeida (UAE), and also heads the points competition, ahead of a flat stage in the Polish plains.