Rafal Majka of Tinkoff Saxo has taken over control of the 71st Tour of Poland with victory on the fifth stage
Eight riders up the road in Bono, Lander, Popovych, Haller, Bagdonas, Engoulvent, Bernas, Paterskiwas reduced to two as Maciej Paterski, who took three f the day's points for sprints and climbs on offer and Seb Lander got away on a fifth 190km stage from Zakopane which took the race into Slovakia with a finish in Štrbské Pleso.
They were joined by Meier,Sutherland, Bono,Mori, Felline, Jungels,Popovych,Chernetski,Haller, Malori,Houle, Le Bon, Engoulvent and Bernas to form a sixteen man group for the final forty kilometres.
Popovych and Haller dropped back to the peloton as Christian Meier went off the front with 31kms to go on a wet day.
Team Sky's Phillip Deignan crashed up but was soon back up as Meier took the second KOM climb points after 163.1km
Rutkiewiecz and Frohlinger chased Meier before they were swept into a peloton which has Meier in their sights with 13.8kms to go.
Meier was caught with two kilometres to go and onto the final climb. Zakarin did plenty of work but Astana took over with 2.6kms left.
Peter Weening attacked going into the final kilometre but a burst of speed from Movistar's Bernt Intxhausti took him to the front. That burst proved to be costly for the Spaniard as up came Rafa Majka of Tinkoff Saxo who won in 4.30.38 ahead of Intxausti, Izaguirre, Brambilla, Barguil, Sanchez, Formolo, Nordhaug, Amador and Niemiec.
Majka now leads the race thanks to bonuses and count back by a single second from Petr Vakoc.
Source: DSG
