Max Kanter put in a powerful effort at the end of another long stage in Poland to take fourth place in the bunch sprint to the line. The result capped a good team performance from Team DSM after Niklas Markl made the early breakaway spending much of the day at the front of the race.

The 226.4 kilometre stage presented a rolling profile in the first half, before gradually flattening out in the latter stages offering up another good opportunity for a sprint. With the climbs early on the team had to stay alert for any dangerous moves going clear and after an initial break of eight clipped off, Markl made a move behind with one other to bridge across and make it 10 out front. This group then spent the vast majority of the stage ahead with a maximum of three minutes gap.

With their advantage falling the leading group split leaving just three riders clear as Markl was absorbed back into the peloton. But all eyes were fixed on a bunch sprint and after the race came back together in the closing kilometres Nikias Arndt was in position to set Kanter up for the finish.

The leading sprinters fanned right across the road in a drag race to the line with not much to separate Kanter in fourth and the stage winner. A promising result with more sprint opportunities still to come in this race.

“The goal today was to go for the sprint with me today – we had control over the race with Niklas in the break from the beginning to be sure we were always in the game,” explained Max Kanter after the finish. “Towards the end it was coming back together for a sprint and the guys did a good job in supporting me well. In the final we rode well as a team and came out with fourth today. We can be satisfied with the result and we’ll try to go better again next time.”

Team DSM coach Marc Reef added: “It was a very long day today with a hilly start and then a flat finish, therefore the goal was to sprint with Max as that was the most likely scenario. Still, we needed to be sharp early on and be aware of big groups so we had in the end, after some good coaching from the guys on the road, Niklas up there in a group of 10 that got three minutes.

“The bunch was controlled by the sprinters’ teams behind and we stayed calm and stuck together before putting Max and Nikias in a really good position into the last few kilometres. Nikias supported Max well and he could do his sprint, finishing fourth. It’s a really good result, a promising result. Our teamwork was good and we are looking forward to the next sprint opportunity because with the work we did today we know we can go even better next time.”