Kwiatkowski home safely in Poland

Michal Kwiatkowski finished safely after a late scare on stage three of the Tour of Poland to remain well positioned overall.

Michal Kwiatkowski finished safely after a late scare on stage three of the Tour of Poland to remain well positioned overall.

Kwiatkowski was well up there as the bunch sprint unfolded in Nowy Sacz but had to swerve to avoid an almost certain crash as he looked to get in the mix.

The Pole stayed upright to roll home 19th and remain ninth overall, 16 seconds back on race leader Fernando Gaviria (Etixx - Quick-Step) while Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) won the sprint to the line.

At 240 kilometres stage three was the longest of the race and with two nasty late climbs it looked like it might be very selective.

And when Nicolas Roche attacked on the brutally steep Kunow 27km from the finish and forged a gap on the peloton, it looked like a select band of riders would indeed do battle for the win.

But the climb wasn't quite long enough for the peloton to be completely distanced and, along with his four fellow escapees, Roche was brought back with 16km remaining.

The sprinters' teams took control on the 7.3km finishing circuit and Bonifazio took a comfortable victory, while Kwiatkowski and Leopold Konig claimed the same time to stay 16 seconds back on the lead ahead of a similarly tough stage four.