Wow! Sensational Matthew Brennan delivers second win for Visma | Lease a Bike in Tour of Poland

A day earlier, the tricky final circuit proved no problem for Paul Magnier. The Frenchman from Soudal Quick-Step impressively won the fourth stage, while the men with ambitions for the overall classification stayed in the pack.

That would be different on Friday, as expected. At 206.1 kilometers, the fifth stage was the longest of the entire week, and it also included quite a few meters of climbing. Even though there were only two categorized climbs, the road would still go up quite a bit, although the gradients were not particularly daunting.

From the start, four riders went on the attack. Among them was Dutchman Huub Artz. The Intermarché-Wanty rider went on an adventure with Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Martin Svrcek (Soudal Quick-Step), and Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla). The peloton gave the early breakaway free rein, as their lead grew to just under six minutes.

Not much happened in the race, but remarkably, there were crashes in the leading group. It was Artz who took a tumble, but fortunately, the Dutch rider was not seriously injured. The Intermarché-Wanty rider quickly got back on his bike, and six kilometers later, he rejoined the leading group, which was slowly but surely feeling the peloton closing in.

In the peloton, we saw Timo Kielich take the maximum mountain points behind the leading group twice, allowing the Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck to extend his lead in the mountain classification to 19 points. At the top of the second and final categorized climb, the gap was just under three minutes, and the riders still had about 70 kilometers to go, which included some more climbing.

The peloton steadily closed in, although the lead was still two minutes with 30 kilometers to go. There seemed to be no chance of the peloton misjudging the situation, although the leaders were not going to give up without a fight, of course. With 20 kilometers to go, Artz and Plowright left Svrcek and Gamper behind, but the peloton was closing in fast.

With 11 kilometers to go, the real climbing was as good as done, and at that point Artz, who had left Plowright behind not long before, was caught by the peloton. The pace was good, in an attempt to drop the sprinters. We saw the men in the GC well at the front in what was a pretty exciting finale.

The depleted peloton began the descent at full speed, with some riders taking more risks than others. Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) managed to open up a small gap on the descent, but the peloton was close behind.

Bettiol was the man who was determined to keep going, while Christen was the one who was a little more hesitant. With only a mile and a half to go, the pair was eventually caught. The question was: which sprinters were still in contention? We would find out in the sprint, but it was clear that the peloton did not consist of many riders anymore.

Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers) and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) seemed to be in the best position, but out of nowhere, Brennan appeared. The talented Brit started his sprint very early, but with his speed, that was no problem at all. No one could catch the Visma | Lease a Bike talent, and he secured his team's second victory of this Tour of Poland.