First win of the season for delighted Swift

The Anston man, aided by Team Sky colleagues Ian Stanndard and Matthew Hayman, crossed the line first after the 239.4km ride from Walbrzych to Opole.

Holding off the challenge of Elia Viviani to win by a wheel-length, Swift finished off the good work of his team-mates and was full of praise for their support.

He said: ““It was brilliant.”

“We made the call to save our legs for the lead out – if we needed to we were going to put someone on the front but the guys did a perfect job looking after me and got me right into position.”

“It was unbelievable at the end; Flecha did a hell of a lot of work to move us all into position around that circuit and then Stannard just went for it – I think the cobbles excited him.”

“And then Mat Hayman did a massive turn to get me almost right to the line.”

The win was a much needed morale boost for Swift, who suffered a cruel fate in the first stage of the tour.

He explained: “I was quite disappointed because I’d done all the work to get over the last climb and then right at the very top I punctured; it’s always hard to look at those results when you know you should have been in with a good chance of winning.”

“I’ve had quite a bit of bad luck this year so it’s pretty special to get that first win of the season.”

“We’ll keep pushing on now for further wins; I’m really happy with how my legs are feeling on the climbs so am looking forward to a few of the harder days as well.”