Taylor Phinney soloed to victory on stage four of the Tour of Poland to secure BMC’s second successive win in the race.
Phinney, who propelled team-mate Thor Hushovd to victory on stage three, attacked with seven kilometres remaining and held off a rampaging peloton.
Team Sky’s Sergio Henao finished safely in the peloton to remain second overall, four seconds behind Polish rider Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff).
The fourth stage of the seven-stage race saw the peloton tackle a 231.5km route from Tarnow to Katowice, finishing with four laps of a lumpy 12.3km circuit.
A nine-man break went away early in the stage and built up a lead of nearly five minutes.
However, that advantage was cut to less than 90 seconds by the time the group reached Katowice for the first lap of the finishing circuit.
Kamil Gradek (Poland) was the last man to be caught, on the final lap, to setup what looked to be a bunch sprint, before two-time individual pursuit world champion Phinney launched his attack, using the time trial skills with which he has made his name to keep the peloton, which crossed the line immediately after the American to record the same time, at bay.
I’ve ALWAYS wanted to win a race like that. Went w/my gut, put my head down and never looked back. Thank you for all your messages! #tdp2013
— Taylor Phinney (@taylorphinney) July 31, 2013
Tour of Poland – stage four – result
1) Taylor Phinney (USA) – BMC Racing – 5:40:17 hours
2) Steele Von Hoff (AUS) – Garmin-Sharp – same time
3) Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR) – Ag2r La Mondiale
4) Aidis Kruopis (LTU) – Orica-GreenEdge
5) Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) – Argos-Shimano
6) Thor Hushovd (NOR) – BMC Racing
7) Luka Mezgec (SLO) – Argos-Shimano
8) Bartlomiej Matysiak (POL) – CCC Polsat Polkowice
9) Daniele Ratto (ITA) – Cannondale Pro Cycling
10) Daniel Schorn (AUT) – NetApp-Endura
General classification
1) Rafal Majka (POL) – Saxo-Tinkoff – 21:55:02 hours
2) Sergio Henao (COL) – Team Sky +4″
3) Christophe Riblon (FRA) – Ag2r La Mondiale +6″
4) Pieter Weening (NED) – Orica-GreenEDGE +7″
5) Jon Izaguirre Insausti (SPA) – Euskaltel-Euskadi +9″
6) Chris Anker Sörensen (DEN) – Saxo-Tinkoff – same time
7) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Ag2r La Mondiale +13″
8) Eros Capecchi (ITA) – Movistar – same time
9) Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) – Radioshack-Leopard +16″
10) Thomas Rohregger (AUT) – Radioshack-Leopard +18″