Taylor Phinney (BMC) used his outstanding abilities as a time triallist and pursuit rider to take a magnificent solo win in the fourth stage of the Tour de Pologne. Having attacked with 7km to go, he managed to keep sprint teams at bay on the final finishing circuit before crossing the line just a fraction of a second earlier than Steele Von Hoff (Garmin) and Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r) while Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) defended his leader's jersey.

Much has been said about the reduced 6-rider rosters for this year's Tour de Pologne but today the lack of manpower certainly played a crucial role at the end of the fourth stage of the Polish race. Taylor Phinney (BMC) attacked with 7km to go and the usually unbeatable sprint teams were simply unable to reel in the powerful American.

Despite fading inside the final kilometre, Phinney crossed the line in solo fashion while Steele Von Hoff beat Yauheni Hutarovich in a photo finish just a fraction of a second later. The sprint teams had all run out of manpower in the final kilometres and the sprinters had to make a very long sprint, many of them fading before they crossed the line.

Earlier on, the peloton had had everything under control as they had refused to do the same mistake as yesterday where they allowed the breakaway a very big gap. The final of the early escapees Kamil Gradek (Poland) was reeled in with 10km to go but just as everything was set for another bunch sprint, Phinney changed the predicted script.

Rafal Majka finished safely in the bunch to survive the final flat stage of the race. Tomorrow the stage is substantially hillier and while it could still come down to some kind of sprint, it should not be one for the full contingent of sprinters on the uphill finish.

Starting at 16.55 you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

9 riders on the attack

The 231,5km stage from Tarnow to Katowice was mostly flat and so expected to the be the final opportunity for the pure sprinters. With many teams intent on bringing it back together for a bunch kick, there was no big fight to get into the breakaway and 9 riders were allowed to go up the road in an early move.

Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel), Dirk Bellemakers (Lotto-Belisol), Francis De Greef (Lotto-Belisol), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura), Fabio Duarte (Colombia), Jacek Morajko (CCC), Kamil Gradek (Poland) and Pawel Franczak (Poland) were allowed to build up a gap of 4.40 but the peloton had learnt from yesterday's unexpectedly thrilling finale and refused to give the escapees any more leeway.

The peloton reduces the advantage

Gradually the break was getting brought back and with 80km to go, the escapees had no more than 1.35 in hand over the peloton which was led by Marco Pinotti (BMC, working for Thor Hushovd), Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp, working for Von Hoff), Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r, working for Hutarovich) and Stef Clement (Belkin, working for Mark Renshaw). De Greef had fallen back into the peloton while the peloton now slowed down a little to avoid bringing it back together too early, the gap going back up to 2.45.

As the riders approached the final 12,3km finishing circuit, the peloton once again upped the pace and as they crossed the line to start the first of four laps, the gap was down to 1.22. Pinotti had now stopped chasing but instead Cheng Ji (Argos-Shimano, working for Luka Mezgec) had decided to contribute to the chase.

A game of cat-and-mouse

The gap was now stabilized as the two group started to play a game of cat-and-mouse and at the next passage of the line, the gap was still 1.22. However, the capture was inevitable and so Gardek decided to break the harmony when he attacked with 26km to go.

The Pole drew along Bellemakers, Ladagnous and Minguez while Morajko bridged the gap a little later. However, the efforts were all in vain as it all came back together.

Gradek on his own

The next to attack was Morajko who was overtaken by Gradek, the Pole soling off on his own. Morajko fell back to the chasers which for a short time had lost Benedetti, the Italian ultimately bridging the gap again.

By now, there was no cooperation in the chase group and so Gradek quickly built up a 24-second gap. The chasers kept attacking each other while Bagdonas, Ji and Haas kept the pace high in the peloton.

All back together

The chasers were gradually picked up by the main group and with 13km to go, Bellekmakers and Minguez were the final two to be reeled in. Up ahead, Gradek had now slowed down and as Cannondale hit the front on the day's only categorized climb with Cameron Wurf leading the chase, it was clear that it would soon come all back together.

Crossing the line for the penultimate time, Gradek was still 7 seconds ahead but with 11km to go, he was reeled in. Belkin now moved to the front and for some time Steven Kruijswijk and Luis-Leon Sanchez swapped turns on the front.

Phinney goes off

With 8km to go, Valerio Agnoli (Astana) attacked and a few moments later, Phinney went off in pursuit. The American overtook the Astana Italian who fell back into the peloton and quickly built up a 15-second gap which remained stable for a long time.

Garmin-Sharp was now desperately chasing with Jacob Rathe and Johan Vansummeren doing the work and later Cannondale and Orica-GreenEdge also chipped in. As Phinney passed the flamme rouge, he was slowing down and the peloton was now approaching fastly.

Orica-GreenEdge lead the chase

Mitchell Docker was leading out his Orica-GreenEdge teammates Leigh Howard and Aidis Kruopis and went head-to-head with Robert Wagner (Belkin) in a tight battle for control. When Howard took over, the Australians moved ahead and Howard took a huge turn in a final attempt to reel in Phinney.

However, it was not to be as Phinney made it two in a row for BMC while Kruopis was forced to do a very long sprint on the uphill finishing straight. While most other sprinters faded towards the end, the Lithuanian held on to take 4th as he was only overtaken by Von Hoff and Hutarovich.

The day belonged to Phinney though while Majka was happy to get safely through another day. He relishes the chance to enter some hillier terrain in tomorrow's fifth stage to Zakopane.

Result:

1. Taylor Phinney 5.40.17

2. Steele Von Hoff

3. Yauheni Hutarovich

4. Aidis Kruopis

5. Reinhardt Van Rensburg

6. Thor Hushovd

7. Luka Mezgec

8. Bartlomiej Matysiak

9. Daniele Ratto

10. Daniel Schorn

General classification:

1. Rafal Majka 21.55.02

2. Sergio Henao +0.04

3. Christophe Riblon +0.06

4. Pieter Weening +0.07

5. Ion Izagirre +0.09

6. Chris Anker Sørensen +0.09

7. Eros Capecchi +0.13

8. Domenico Pozzovivo

9. Robert Kiserlovski +0.16

10. Thomas Rohregger +0.18

Points classification:

1. Steele Von Hoff 37

2. Thor Hushovd 35

3. Rafal Majka 34

4. Yauheni Hutarovich 31

5. Ion Izagirre 30

Mountains classification:

1. Thomas Rohregger 27

2. Christophe Riblon 20

3. Bartosz Huzarski 15

4. Chris Anker Sørensen 13

5. Georg Preidler 12

Sprints classification:

1. Bartosz Huzarski 13

2. Jacek Morajko 8

3. Serge Pauwels 8

4. Bartlomiej Matysiak 6

5. Angel Madrazo 5

Teams classification:

1. Radioshack 65.47.30

2. Team Saxo-Tinkoff +5.43

3. Argos-Shimano +8.55

4. Cannondale +8.59

5. Movistar +11.40