João Almeida takes back-to-back wins with uphill sprint on stage four of Tour of Poland 2021
Having taken his first WorldTour win on stage three, Almeida was at it again in Poland
João Almeida capitalised on the confidence after his first WorldTour win, making it back-to-back victories with stage four of the Tour of Poland 2021.
The Portuguese rider held position in a reduced peloton on the brutally steep uphill finish, launching his attack 400m from the line and passing his team-mate Mikkel Honoré.
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) tried to counter and threatened to overtake Almeida, but it was the Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider who secured the victory in the sprint for the line and held onto his race lead for another day.
How it happened
Stage four of the 2021 Tour of Poland, raced over 159.9km from Tarnów to Bukovina Resort, looked to be a good opportunity for the general classification contenders to make their move.
The stage featured seven uncategorised ramps spread throughout the course, but finished with the 4km-long, 5.3 per cent average gradient Lapszanka climb, followed by the 1.9km, 7.3 per cent ramp to the finish.
Early in the stage a number of riders attacked with four men able to get a gap on the peloton in the opening 20km.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Marco Canola (Gazprom-RusVelo), Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) and Larry Warbasse (Ag2r-Citroën) made up the day’s break and they pulled out around a four-minute gap in the opening 80km.
With 36km to race, Alexis Renard (Israel Start-Up Nation) hit out from the peloton and tried to bridge across to the break on the Lapszanka climb, but after 15km out front he was reeled back in by the bunch, as the breakaway’s gap tumbled to around a minute.
As the only categorised climb of the day continued, the break began to fall apart until only Attila Valter was left at the head of affairs, his companions quickly swept up by the bunch.
With 10km to race Valter had just 23 seconds to the bunch, but his heart was swiftly broken as he was caught 7km from the line, as the bunch hit the descent towards the sharp final climb.
Ineos Grenadiers took up the pace-setting at the front of the bunch on the descent, stringing out the race with 6km to go.
As the road ramped up into the final climb it was Deceunicnk - Quick-Step who hit out first with Mikkel Honoré finding space with a big attack, as UAE Team Emirates pursued to keep their man Diego Ulissi in with a shot at the GC.
With 2km to race Honoré had around 18 seconds on the bunch.
>>> Remco Evenepoel laps peloton on his way to stunning victory in Tour of Denmark
It was race leader Almeida who attacked 400m from the finish and he powered past his team-mate Honoré, pursued by Matej Mohorič who then hit the front 200m from the line.
But Almeida waited in the wheels and started to come past 100m from the finish, sprinting to his second consecutive victory and maintaining his race lead.
Almeida now has an eight-second lead to Mohorič on general classification with three stages remaining.
Tour of Poland 2021, stage four: Tarnów to Bukovina Resort (159.9km)
1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 3-51-32
2. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
3. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Ag2r-Citroën
4. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
5. Dion Smith (Nzl) Team BikeExchange
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM
7. Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
8. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates)
9. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
10. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
General classification after stage four
1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 9-42-47
2. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, at 8s
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 14s
4. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers, at 21s
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM, at 32s
6. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
7. Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert-Matériaux,
8. Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time
9. Einer Augusto Rubio (Col) Movistar, at 36s
10. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at same time
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
-
Forget distance covered, these are the key stats to note in your Strava Year in Sport
We asked a coach how to best analyse our end of year Strava data
By Tom Davidson Published
-
'She should show a bit more respect' - Lotte Kopecky responds to Demi Vollering comments
The pair seemingly had one last fractious year together at SD Worx-Protime in 2024
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Fernando Gaviria makes his comeback with sprint win on stage three of Tour of Poland 2021
The Colombian sprint has been winless since September last year
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Phil Bauhaus throws bike to victory on cobbles of stage one of Tour of Poland 2021
The German sprinter snuck past Alvaro Hodeg right at the line
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Fabio Jakobsen will return to racing this week after Tour of Poland crash
Fabio Jakobsen will return to the peloton this week after his awful crash in last year’s Tour of Poland.
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Tour of Poland downhill sprint finish banned by UCI after Fabio Jakobsen crash
The Tour of Poland’s now infamous downhill sprint finish has been banned by the UCI, in the wake of Fabio Jakobsen’s serious crash.
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Threats to Dylan Groenewegen are unacceptable and race barriers are to blame for crash, says riders's union
The crash happened on stage one of the 2020 Tour of Poland in Katowice with Fabio Jakobsen crashing through the race barriers
By Tim Bonville-Ginn Published
-
Fabio Jakobsen back on the bike for first time since Tour of Poland crash
Fabio Jakobsen has ridden his bike for the first time since his awful Tour of Poland.
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Patrick Lefevere says he takes back his comments about putting Dylan Groenewegen in jail
Patrick Lefevere says he takes back his comments about putting Dylan Groenewegen in jail.
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Remco Evenepoel wins Tour of Poland, continuing unbeaten 2020 stage race run
The Belgian 20-year-old makes it four stage race wins out of four
By Jonny Long Published