The road was either going up or going down in the 174-kilometer stage six, the toughest day in the Tour of Poland, leaving a decimated group of only 16 riders, including Riccardo Zoidl, that crested the penultimate climb with 11 kilometers to go.

When Mikel Nieve (Sky) attacked through the twisting gradual downhill, followed by Ben Hermans (BMC), Riccardo Zoidl took off in pursuit.  Hermans joined Nieve as they built a 20-second advantage, but Zoidl was unable to make contact, and with the final climb looming he opted to wait for the select chasing group.

“Today I felt better than yesterday,” said Zoidl. “The second to last climb was very hard, and I had to dig deep to stay with the leader’s group. I saw that there was disorganization when Hermans and Nieve went, so I tried to go after them.

“In the end it was probably a mistake because this move killed me a little bit and Tiralongo (Team Astana) was pulling hard behind so it would be better if I stayed with them, but okay, you never know what is going to happen. Anyways it was a much better day than yesterday and was nice to see that I am progressing.”

With the top rungs of the general classification separated by seconds the attacks flew as soon as the final three-kilometer ascent tilted upward; the group exploded once again and a tired Zoidl came unglued. He fought his way up the final kilometers as best he could and finished in 17th place (+1’05”). Maybe not the result he wanted, but good enough to move him from 25th to 14th in the overall classification.

“I was really on the limit when they started the climb and when they started to attack,” continued Zoidl. “I was really, really empty so I went my own pace to the finish to try and limit my losses.

“But really I lost my chance at a high GC yesterday because the time trial would be good for me, but that’s how it is. Tomorrow I want to try and make a good TT to finish off the week well.”

After the initial attacks, it was an acceleration by Sergio Henao (Sky) that no one could match. He quickly passed Hermans and Nieve and went on to take the stage win and the leader’s jersey. 

Eight seconds later Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) sprinted to second to put him equal on time with Henao in the overall and setting up an exciting, decisive time trial Saturday.