Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team) took his second stage win at the Tour de Pologne today as he won stage 5 in Zakopane on Thursday. Hushovd rode a guarded uphill sprint for victory in the 160.5-kilometre stage which began in Nowy Targ.

In the uphill sprint finish Hushovd overpowered Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ.fr) into second and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) into third.

The stage was characterized by an early breakaway group consisting of Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing), Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM), Darwin Atapuma (Colombia), Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ.fr) and Pawel Cieslik (Poland); and Jacek Morajko and Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC Polsat). Atapuma didn’t last long, though, and the group was reduced to seven riders on the search for a stage win. The peloton made sure, though, that the group never gained too big a lead, and as the group entered the final 40km of the stage, which featured two categorized climbs, the lead had been reduced to 45 seconds thanks mostly to the work done by the Colombia team in the peloton.

26km from the line, the breakaway was finished and the fortune seekers were all reeled back in.

An avalanche of attacks and counterattacks followed, but they were all unsuccessful as Saxo-Tinkoff and Sky took turns to protect the GC placings of race leader Rafal Majka and Sergio Henao (2nd) respectively.

With 2km to go, the front of the race was back together.

Omega Pharma led out the peloton, but Lampre crashed the front and took command with 1km to go.

Inside the final kilometre, Uran was trying to set up teammate Henao for the stage win and the bonus seconds which would have given him the overall lead.

Henao jumped when Uran pulled off, but Hushovd managed to come around and ride away with his second win of the race. The victory made three in a row for BMC Racing Team following Taylor Phinney’s solo win on Wednesday.

In the overall, Rafal Majka lost his lead by the slender margin of 1 second as Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) overtook him thanks to the bonus seconds he had picked up during the stage.

Stage 5:
1 Thor Hushovd - BMC Racing Team 03.54.40
2 Matthieu Ladagnous - FDJ.fr 
3 Daniele Ratto - Cannondale Pro Cycling 
4 Luka Mezgec - Team Argos-Shimano 
5 David Tanner - Belkin Pro Cycling Team 
6 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya - Sky Procycling 
7 Diego Ulissi - Lampre-Merida 
8 Christophe Riblon - AG2R La Mondiale 
9 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg - Team Argos-Shimano 
10 Georg Preidler - Team Argos-Shimano 

General classification:
1 Jon Izaguirre Insausti - Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.49.41
2 Rafal Majka - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0.01
3 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya - Sky Procycling 0.05
4 Christophe Riblon - AG2R La Mondiale 0.07
5 Pieter Weening - Orica-GreenEdge 0.08
6 Chris Anker Sörensen - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0.10
7 Domenico Pozzovivo - AG2R La Mondiale 0.14
8 Eros Capecchi - Movistar Team 
9 Robert Kiserlovski - RadioShack Leopard 0.17
10 Thomas Rohregger - RadioShack Leopard 0.19