Jan Christen wins brutal Tour de Pologne stage 5 as Bart Lemmen keeps yellow

The fifth stage of the Tour de Pologne was won by Jan Christen. The Swiss rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG accelerated on the brutally steep final climb, almost paid the price for going too hard too early, but still managed to beat Marco Brenner (Tudor) in the sprint. Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), meanwhile, managed to hold on to the yellow jersey, although the Dutchman was made to suffer on the punishing finale.

After three stages across flatter terrain — all won by Jonathan Milan — Thursday had finally given the climbers their opportunity. Bad weather complicated matters considerably: a major crash forced the race to be neutralised, after which Lemmen proved to have the strongest legs. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider took the first professional victory of his career and, with it, moved into the overall race lead. IDL Pro Cycling's Tour de Pologne overview also details Lemmen's victory and the remaining stages.

He was going to have to fight to keep that position, because stage five was certainly no easy assignment either. The opening part of the day was extremely flat, but two climbs awaited in the finale, with the finish coming on a hill where the gradient reached as much as 19 percent. Could Lemmen defend his yellow jersey on terrain like that? Whatever happened, he was going to give everything he had.

Five riders made up the early breakaway, including two Dutchmen: Tim Naberman (Picnic PostNL) and Taco van der Hoorn (Lotto-Intermarché). They were joined by Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla), Filip Maciejuk (Movistar) and top sprinter Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step). Later in the stage, Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ) and mountains classification leader Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla) also managed to bridge across.

Maciejuk then dropped out of the move after suffering a puncture, leaving six riders at the front. They entered the finale with a lead of just under two minutes, with the climb to Przełęcz Przegibek providing the first obstacle. It was not especially difficult compared with what was still to come, but it provided an ideal warm-up for the far more demanding gradients ahead. On the climb, however, the breakaway riders saw their advantage disappear at a rapid rate.

Magnus Sheffield (Netcompany INEOS) also came down on an uphill section, although he appeared to be okay after the incident. The escapees managed to extend their advantage slightly again on the descent, while several teams began working hard in the peloton behind. Could the break still produce a surprise? With such punishing final kilometres still waiting, they were certainly going to need a substantial advantage if they wanted to stay clear.

It quickly became clear, however, that the breakaway was not going to make it. The riders at the front fought for every meter, but the final escapees were caught even before the real climbing began. Before that happened, Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM) were involved in another nasty crash, although fortunately the rest of the field emerged largely unscathed.

The peloton hit the final climb at enormous speed. It became brutally difficult immediately, while Lemmen initially found himself sitting a little farther back in the group. The Dutchman gradually began moving forward, but he had still not reached the very front when Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) accelerated. Lemmen remained impressively calm on the savage gradients, but there was nothing he could do when Jan Christen launched his move.

The Swiss champion from UAE Team Emirates-XRG blasted away and quickly opened a gap, while Lemmen increased his own pace behind. Christen continued to disappear up the road, but he had perhaps made his move a little too early: Marco Brenner (Tudor) came charging back towards him in the final kilometre. The young German rapidly closed the gap and managed to reach Christen, but in the end he still had to concede defeat. Christen had enough left to take the stage victory, while Lemmen limited his losses sufficiently to retain the yellow jersey. The original Dutch article accidentally refers to Brenner as “Mauro” once; the rider is Marco Brenner.

1. Jan Christen
2. Marco Brenner "
3. Louis Barré + 0.04