The fourth day of racing at the Tour de Pologne saw the peloton head towards the now traditional hilltop finish at Bukovina Resort, with 160 kilometres to take on, albeit without the narrow climbs which usually litter this stage. It was a steady start to the day with a five rider breakaway escaping and quickly building up a lead of four minutes and 30 seconds over the peloton. With all Team DSM riders in the peloton, focus remained on staying safe and conserving energy for the finale.

With the kilometres ticking by, the gap to those ahead diminished as the climbs in the finale approached. Working well together as a unit, the team brought Jai Hindley into a good position for the key moments where the pace dramatically increased, dropping him off at the front of the bunch. The peloton thinned down over the penultimate ascent, catching the breakaway, before charging towards the uphill drag. Fighting all the way to the finish, Hindley showed a good turn of speed in the reduced sprint, taking a good sixth place finish for the team and moving up on GC.

“It was another solid day here in Poland with the team riding really well and supporting me throughout the day,” said Hindley at the finish. “Again the team fully committed for me coming into the final and from there the pace was just so high on the last climb it wasn’t really possible to attack. I tried to set myself up as best as I could for the sprint and was sixth in the end. It’s just really nice to be back at the front end of a race. I’m really enjoying racing here with the group of guys that we have and looking forward to another hard finishing circuit tomorrow.”

Team DSM coach Marc Reef continued: “It was the second GC day here with the uphill finish and our goal was to protect Jai and set him up for the finale. The pace was high again during the day and the guys protected Jai in a very good way. In the finale they put him in a really good spot and Jai did a strong final where he was sharp in position, reacted on the moves and sprinted to a good sixth place for us, moving up to fifth on GC too.”