Bart Lemmen won a turbulent Tour de Pologne stage four in Karpacz after heavy rain, climbing, and a major crash reshaped the race.
The Visma | Lease a Bike rider attacked from a reduced front group with 4.5 kilometres remaining. He then held off Christian Scaroni of XDS Astana in a tightening uphill finish.
Scaroni took second after closing fast in the final metres, but he ran out of road. Axel Laurence of Netcompany Ineos completed the podium.
The result also moved Lemmen into the overall lead. He now leads Scaroni by six seconds, with Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling third at 26 seconds.
Tour de Pologne stage four disrupted by mass crash
The stage began in Żagań under heavy rain, and the early kilometres encouraged aggressive racing. Dries De Bondt of Team Jayco AlUla and Matteo Malucelli of XDS Astana Team helped form the first move.
Tobiasz Pawlak of ATT Investments and Patryk Stosz of Voster Team joined them. The group built a gap across the rolling opening section of the stage.
As the race moved into its final third, the break held around two minutes. UAE Team Emirates controlled the peloton and kept the escape within reach before the planned category 3 Antoniów climb.
Then the race changed suddenly with 40 kilometres remaining. A large crash in the bunch brought down more than 20 riders across several teams.
Joao Almeida was among the riders involved, along with Lemmen himself. UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma | Lease a Bike, Bahrain-Victorious, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama-FDJ United, and Tudor Pro Cycling all had riders affected.
Officials first paused the race while medical and race staff responded. They then neutralised the stage for around 30 minutes.
Organisers shortened the route by about 15 kilometres to allow racing to continue on a compressed course. When the stage restarted, the bunch quickly stretched again.
Pawlak lost his place ahead and returned to the peloton. Milan also dropped from the bunch soon after the restart, with Almeida later losing contact from the front group as the climbs approached.
Lemmen attacks from the decisive trio
De Bondt, Malucelli, and Stosz tried to exploit the restart and opened their advantage again. At one point, De Bondt held the virtual race lead by 26 seconds ahead of Malucelli.
Inside the final 10 kilometres, De Bondt and Stosz pushed on together on the last climb. Their margin had fallen to just 22 seconds.
Bahrain Victorious then lifted the pace in the peloton and brought the move back with only kilometres remaining. Visma | Lease a Bike immediately used the moment to attack.
Lemmen and teammate Tijmen Graat launched first. Scaroni and Brenner followed, creating the selection that decided the stage.
By the time the leaders entered the final five kilometres, only Lemmen, Scaroni, and Brenner remained at the front. The trio looked set for a tactical run to the finish.
Lemmen avoided that scenario with one decisive acceleration. He surged clear at 4.5 kilometres to go and committed fully to the climb.
Scaroni refused to concede and dragged himself back toward the Dutchman in the closing metres. Lemmen still reached the line first, winning by about a bike length.
The victory gave Lemmen his first professional win. It also gave him the Tour de Pologne leader’s position after a stage defined by weather, crashes, and late climbing pressure.
Related Cycle Nation stories
- Ferrand-Prévot time trial setback leaves Tour defense in chase mode
- Marlen Reusser powers into Tour de France Femmes yellow on stage 4
- Lorena Wiebes Takes First Yellow After Lausanne Sprint
- Demi Vollering takes four-second Tour de France Femmes edge in Lausanne
- Ferrand-Prévot banks on Ventoux homework for Tour de France Femmes defence