Stage four at the Tour of Poland was a transition stage ahead of the next two days where the serious climbs and the battle for the overall begin.

The 220-kilometer race saw a three-man breakaway escape early and after building an overwhelming 12-minute gap the trio held off the peloton by 20 seconds to contest a three-up sprint. Giacomo Nizzolo, a strong climber, was confident ahead of Wednesday's hilly stage but his asthma flared and he never made it to the finish.

It was a parcours that was questionable for the sprinters and most struggled on the final category one ascent and lost contact. However, Nizzolo never had a chance to contest the climbs; he suffered from asthma early on, forcing him to abandon later in the stage.

“Giacomo was in trouble with his asthma and with the hilly stage it was much harder today and he was in the grupetto.  With the next two days all about climbing and with the hot weather continuing it made no sense for him to continue,” explained director Adriano Baffi.

From the break, Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) claimed the stage win while Kamil Zielinski (Poland National) finished second and took over the race lead.

Eugenio Alafaci was the highest finisher for Trek Factory Racing in 11th, and Riccardo Zoidl and Fumy Beppu also arrived with the front peloton.

Tomorrow the race continues with the two toughest stages of the seven-day tour before concluding on Saturday with a 25-kiometer individual time trial. 

The sprinters had their show in the first three days and the breakaway specialists played leading roles in Wednesday’s stage four; now the final three days are for the GC contenders who will take center stage in the battle for the overall classification.

“It’s too bad because we had hoped that Giacomo could have been there for the finish today. Now the flat stages are over and a new race begins. We will race for Riccardo and see if he can make a high GC,” ended Baffi.