I was going to entitle this ‘Michal Kwiatkowski comes from nowhere’ but then I realised that was completely inaccurate. He came from somewhere to win stage four of the Tour of Britain, I just don’t know exactly how he managed it.
The TV coverage was utterly focused on the two leaders for the final kilometre when lo, a jug-eared Pole hoved into view, sashayed round them and even had time to splay arms and legs by way of supremely self-assured celebration.
Kwiatkowski took six seconds plus 10 bonus seconds on most of his rivals and if he’s only three seconds ahead of Edoardo Zardini overall, he’s got more on bigger rivals. Nicolas Roche – who again had the decency to look agonised during his late stage hill attack – is 14 seconds back. Bradley Wiggins is 27 seconds back. The latter will still be looking forward to the time trial, but it’s short, and Kwiatkowski’s good.
Stage five
They’ve put in some really good finishes this year. I like to see sprints ruined and stage five sees a bugger of a climb 2km from the finish. This will again demand attacking riding from the winner.
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