The fifth stage was the toughest and longest one in this year’s Tour de Pologne. 223 kilometres needed to be covered and eight climbs of first category had to be climbed.

There was a breakaway right from the beginning of the stage and six riders were part of it, among them three riders of Lotto Soudal; Kris Boeckmans, Boris Vallée and Vegard Breen. They rode at the front of the race for a long time but they were caught 60 kilometres before the finish.

Afterwards, Astana led the peloton and they set a high pace. On the last ascent of the day, the race exploded. In the descent of that last climb, eleven riders were in the lead, among them Bart De Clercq. He attacked at 4.5 kilometres from the finish and won the stage. Ulissi and Reichenbach finished at three seconds. De Clercq is also the new GC leader.

“The real start of the Tour de Pologne was today actually," he said. "It was a very long stage with two laps of about 54 kilometres. These laps were very tough because the climbs were in that circuit. When we entered the final lap, a group of riders was trying to get away with Sander Armée. I bridged the gap to that group.

“We were with nineteen riders in front at that moment and I felt that I had good legs. Many riders bridged the gap to the front group so the group consisted of about 40 riders. Afterwards, Astana was setting a very high pace and on the final climb I was really suffering. But I managed to stay in the front of the race and in the descent there were only eleven riders left. I then attacked at about four kilometres from the finish and it appeared to be the good moment. I stayed in front and won the stage. I’m very happy with that because it’s been a while since I won a race.

“It was a long and difficult stage; the final circuit featured three hard climbs, one right after the other. Today I felt really good and I managed to stick with the best when we came off the last climb. Then in the final there were a series of attacks but none of them were very effective. I decided to go for it and when I realized that I had managed to gain a good advantage my only thought was to push it to the finish line. It wasn’t easy; the finishing straight was on a slight uphill and it seemed never ending, but I managed to win and I’m thrilled.

“First of all, I’m going to enjoy this victory. For the rest, I’ll do my very best to maintain the first position on GC. Tomorrow is going to be a very tough day because of the many climbs. I rode this stage last year and no doubt, many riders will get dropped. It will be a matter of defending my jersey as well as I can. Also with the time trial ahead, it isn’t going to be an easy task. But I’ll give it my all to obtain the overall victory."