Team Sky was one of the squads that contributing to the pace-setting during the run-in to Warsaw in the final part of the second stage of the Tour de Pologne. When things got desperate in the finale, however, the British team was absent as sprinter Ben Swift had suffered a late puncture.

Team Sky’s riders finished safely in the peloton on day two of the Tour de Pologne after Petr Vakoc had claimed a surprise victory in Warsaw.

Vakoc had formed part of a three-man breakaway on the 226km trek from Torun, and left his accomplices behind on the concluding laps before solo-ing to his first professional win.

The Omega Pharma – Quick-Step rider crossed the line 21 seconds ahead of the main bunch, who seemed unaware of his presence, and failed to mount the usual chase in the closing stages.

Indeed, Michael Matthews celebrated as if he had won the stage when he outsprinted Boris Vallee (Lotto-Belisol) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Shimano) at the line, but the Orica-GreenEdge rider had to be content with second place as Vakoc had already taken the spoils.

Edvald Boasson Hagen was the first Team Sky rider home in 20th position, while Philip Deignan, Dario Cataldo, Sebastian Henao, Salvatore Puccio and Kanstantsin Siutsou were all present in the main group and didn’t lose any time on the overall favourites.

Those results saw Vakoc rise to the top of the general classification and the 22-year-old neo pro now holds a 27-second advantage over former yellow jersey holder Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R), with Roman Maikin (RusVelo) four seconds further adrift in third.

Back on the team bus, Sports Director Gabriel Rasch had been aware of Vakoc’s presence but a flat tyre for Ben Swift on the last lap meant he kept his riders out of trouble and saved their energies for future stages to come.

He told TeamSky.com: “I have no idea why Vakoc wasn’t chased down – we knew he was out there. Maybe the sprint teams were playing mind games with each other and it ultimately cost them.

"We weren’t in the position to compete today after Ben had suffered his flat tyre - it was full gas at that point on a technical circuit - so he had no chance to get back on.

“Normally we would have used Edvald but he’s not quite 100% yet and the flat circuit didn’t suit him. It’s fine, our main goal was that Philip [Deignan] and Sebastian [Henao] didn’t lose any time, and they did that, so we’re happy.

“We’ve got another two sprint stages ahead of us so we’ll try for Ben again tomorrow. He’s feeling good so we’ll see what we can do.”