Italy’s Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) won the 181km stage from Dzierzoniow to Jelenia Gora, with Spain's
José Joaquín Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) placing second. T-Mobile's Marcus Burghardt came in third.
T-Mobile's Marco Pinotti featured in a five-man breakaway that escaped on the first of three laps of the mountainous
circuit in southern Poland.
However, the breakaway which was later reduced to three – Pinotti, Giovanni Visconti
(Quick Step) and Yoann Le Boulanger (Bouygues Telecom) – were caught on the final lap and a sixty-strong lead group
formed after many riders lost contact on the testing climbs.
CSC's Fabian Cancellara attacked 1200 meters before the line but was caught again.
"We had both Fränk, Andy (Schleck), Jens (Voigt), Fabian and Bobby (Julich) in the front group and then Fabian
attacked with only 1.2 kilometers to go. He almost made it, but was caught about 100 meters from the finish line. But this
means we have a good shot at the queen stage, which rounds off the race tomorrow," said CSC sports director Alain Gallopin.
In the finale Tour stage winner Pozzato proved too strong for Rojas and Gent-Wevelgem winner Burghardt.
Fränk Schleck (CSC) was involved in a crash during todays stage: "It was a pretty serious crash, which Fränk
was involved in so he's badly bruised on one side of his body, but he made it through the stage and we're hoping he'll be
ok for tomorrow. The doctors think he's okay, but of course the pain might take some of his energy for the final stage," said
Team CSC's sports director Alain Gallopin
The seven-day tour concludes on Saturday with its traditional tricky finish at the ski resort of Karpacy at
800m.
