Sagan the man in Poland

Sagan: Took a convincing stage victory to move into the yellow jersey in Poland

Peter Sagan put in a devastating attack on the final climb to take a comfortable victory on stage four of the Tour de Pologne.

The Liquigas rider accelerated away from his rivals with 500 metres to go on the tough cobbled ascent in Cieszyn and opened up a clear gap of three seconds on the line to take his ninth win of the season.

Last year’s race winner Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) staked his claim for overall honours with second place on the stage while Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) rounded out the podium places as a select group contested the finish.

A concerted push from Liquigas on the final lap of an undulating finishing circuit on behalf of Sagan significantly strung out the bunch, meaning the stage win was also enough to propel the young Slovenian to a five second overall lead over Marcato.

The stage marked a new phase in the race as the undulations began after three sprint stages, with forest-lined climbs and picturesque scenery replacing nervous city-centre circuits.

Climbing high

A tough stage was always in store as the riders took on the 177km route from Oświęcim to Cieszyn and a four man break wasted little time in moving clear after 30km.

The gap to the peloton touched 7:30 as Chad Beyer (BMC) joined Federico Rocchetti (De Rosa), Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat) and Kamil Gradek (Poland) in the move, the latter three teams maintaining their 100 per cent record of making the day’s breakaways.

Quick Step and Liquigas were on duty controlling the tempo on the front as the peloton made three ascents of the Kubalonka climb on a scenic but punishing circuit.

The final time over the climb it was Beyer who made a break for it in a move that saw the remainder of the escapees swept up while the American pressed on.

A small group joined forces in a bid to string the bunch out on the descent of the climb, a five-man move forming briefly as attacks began to ping off the front ahead of the day’s finale.

Alexandre Pliuschin (Katusha) bridged across to the BMC man and was the first rider to enter the finishing circuit, yet it would be Simon Clarke (Astana) who took up the baton only to be caught as he took the bell for the final lap.

It was here that 2010 Vuelta a Espana winner Vincenzo Nibali attacked as Liquigas wound up the pace on the 6.3km course, splitting the peloton to pieces and setting up Sagan for a victory he made look easy.