Ilnur Zakarin finished 10th in the first mountain stage of the Tour de Pologne in Zakopane. The fifth stage of the race ended with the victory of Bart De Clercq from Lotto Soudal, who attacked from the leading group with 5 km to go. Three seconds later two counterattacking riders reached the finish. Diego Ulissi from Lampre-Merida was second. Sebastien Reichenbach from IAM Cycling completed the daily podium. Four seconds later the chasing group with Ilnur Zakarin arrived.

"Honestly, it was a tough stage for me. In the last climb Eduard Vorganov brought me perfectly to the front, so I started the climb in a good position. Just before the top there were a lot of attacks in the group, I tried to respond, but I did not have much energy in the legs. After we passed the top of the climb I lost a little bit contact with the group, but I was able to come back in the downhill. I am happy I managed to finish with all the favorites. Tomorrow we will have another hard day in the mountains. I will try to recover as much as possible before the decisive stage," explained Ilnur Zakarin.

The fifth stage of the Tour de Pologne started in Novy Sacz and ended in Zakopane after 223 km of racing. Six riders created a daily breakaway in the first part but already with 50 km to go this breakaway was neutralized. Right after that the peloton saw a number of attacks. Thus, before the penultimate climb there was a reduced leading group of 40 riders, while in the last climb the group was whittled down to 15 – 20 riders. The decisive attack came from Bart De Clercq in the flat part with only 5 km to go.

De Clercq took the lead in the general classification of the Tour de Pologne. Ilnur Zakarin moved up to 10th place, 17 seconds behind the leader.

Tomorrow it is the decisive mountain stage – 174 km in Bukovina with 8 climbs and an uphill finish.