Sagan pips Martin to Tour of Poland title, as Kittel claims his fourth stage

Peter Sagan claimed victory, at the Tour of Poland, on the final sprint, as Marcel Kittel claimed a fourth stage victory.

Sagan started the day three seconds down, on last year’s winner, Dan Martin, but the bonus points put him five seconds ahead of the Irishman. The Slovakian road champion used Kittle as his lead out man and enjoyed a double celebration, with the German.

Despite seeing his title denied at the last, Martin remained positive about the result. The Garmin-Cervelo rider chased down Wouter Poels, who had leaped off the front with around 500 metres to go, and claimed victory on the tour’s queen stage. It was this victory, as Sagan blew a gasket with 600m to go, that helped the Liquigas rider, on the final stage.

Ben Swift takes final stage as Cameron Meyer wins overall Tour Down Under

Ben Swift took victory in the final stage of the Tour Down Under as Cameron Meyer sealed the Ochre jersey.

Swift managed used a great lead out from Greg Henderson to seal Team Sky a one-two on the streets of Adelaide. Sky took control of the peloton within the last kilometre with several of the team sat on the front to give the Brit his second victory after stage two in Mannum. The win boosts Swift in to third place eight seconds behind the tour winner Meyer. His focus is now split between the road calendar and the World Track Championships in March.

Francisco Ventoso times it to perfection to win Stage 5

Movistar’s Francisco Ventoso beat the top sprinters at this year’s Tour Down Under to take his team’s debut victory.

The Spaniard pipped stage 3 winner Michael Matthews and GC contender Matt Goss across the line in Willunga. Ventoso managed to time his attack to perfection with Matthews chasing down on him; the Rabobank rider lost out on victory by inches. This is the first year Movistar join the peloton as a reincarnation of the Caisse D’Epargne team. The victory puts them on the top of the team leader board 11 seconds ahead of Vacansoleil-DCM and Ag2R La Mondiale.

ToB: Borut Bozic beats Greg Henderson to give Vacansoleil second victory

Borut Bozic finally managed to take victory ahead of Greg Henderson in stage 7 of the Tour of Britain.

Bozic has been the bridesmaid on a couple of occasions this year, but this time the Vacansoleil rider had the legs on the Kiwi in Colchester on the uphill finish. However, the pair were a full three seconds ahead of third place man Richie Porte. The win now puts him just over a minute behind race leader Michael Albasini who has been suffering from illness for the past few days.

The Slovenian’s victory added to Wouter Poels’ on Tuesday means Vacansoleil now sit at the top of the team classification 6’15 ahead of Sky Pro Cycling. He will hope that the departure of his teammate Pim Lighart will not hamper his hopes of staying on the podium and possibly winning the yellow jersey on the final stage.

TOB: Wouter Poels take victory in stage four but Albasini keeps the lead

Wouter Poels launched an attack on the final climb of the day to beat teammate Borut Bozic and win stage four of the Tour of Britain amid panic for the organisers.

The Dutchman survived the early attacks made on the group to ride away from his teammate Bozic by five seconds. The win added to the news he’d received the day before that he would be part of the team going to the World Championships after Laurens Ten Dam crashed in the Vuelta.

Stage four took riders from Minehead to Teignmouth and was billed as the Queen stage of this year’s tour. It proved to be too difficult for most of the field who couldn’t keep up with the pace set by the front group.