Giampaolo Caruso proved that he is getting back into form after his Giro crash when he animated today's hard stage of the Tour de Pologne before going on to take 9th. The Italian is pleased with his form as he prepares himself to support Joaquim Rodriguez in the Vuelta.

Today at the Tour de Pologne the queen stage was held. The riders passed 174 km in Bukowina with 9 categorized climbs. After today’s 6th stage Team Katusha’s rider Giampaolo Caruso moved up to 5th place in general classification.

Before the final, 7th stage of the race Caruso is  40 seconds behind the race overall leader Rafal Majka from Tinkoff-Saxo.

"The stage was really hard," he said. "Tinkoff-Saxo and Omega Pharma worked in front of the peloton during the whole day, so they did not give any chance to the breakaway. I tried to be in front to control the actions of the other GC contenders. On the final lap the pace was very high. I attacked on the hardest part of the climb together with Majka, but there was not organized work inside the formed group.

"In the finish Majka was too strong for me to follow him, but I did all I could in this moment. Anyway, after this race I come home with good confidence that my preparation to the Vuelta is on the right way. I am happy with this week."

The sixth stage of the Tour de Pologne (Bukovina Terma Hotel Spa – Bukowina Tatrzanska) started with a number of attacks, which formed a breakaway group of 6 and later of 8 riders, including Sergei Chernetckii of Team Katusha. The break worked well during the stage, but just before the penultimate climb the peloton neutralized it.

"Today I had a plan to go in a breakaway," he said. "So, from the start I tried to be in front to control the situation. When I saw three riders, who made a strong attack, I thought it was a right moment to follow them. So, we went in the escape.

"Unfortunately, the peloton did not give us too much space. With 1 lap to go I attacked for myself, I knew this road, because last year I also attacked here. But the group was too close and caught me."