Nikias Arndt of Team DMS, front in white, won the fifth stage of the Tour de Pologne in a dramatic photo finish ©Getty Images

German rider Nikias Arndt of Team DMS won in a dramatic photo finish on the fifth stage of the Tour de Pologne, while Portugal’s João Almeida of Deceuninck-QuickStep had his lead at the top of the general classification cut to two seconds.

The 173-kilometre stage proved testing as the route took the riders through the Tatra Mountains before finishing in Bielsko-Biała in southern Poland.

Arndt won the stage in a time of 4 hours 2min 20sec - his first race victory of the year.

Seventeen riders crossed the finishing line in the same time, but Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious was adjudged to have finished the race in second, earning a crucial six-second bonus to move within two seconds of Almeida.

Italy’s Stefano Oldani of Lotto-Soudal completed the podium, pipping Almeida to third and depriving the general classification leader of any time bonus from this stage.

Diego Ulissi of Italy and UAE Team Emirates remains third in the general classification and 14 seconds behind Almeida after finishing fifth.

In the sprint classification, Mohorič leapfrogged Poland’s Michał Kwiatkowski of Ineos Grenadiers, who finished 11th, the Slovenian now leading the way on 68 points to Kwiatkowski’s 67.

Almeida is third in the sprint classification on 65 points.

Kwiatkowski is fourth in the general classification, 21 seconds adrift of Almeida.

Łukasz Owsian of Poland and ProTeam Arkéa-Samsic continues to top the mountain classification on 50 points, with his nearest challenger Emīls Liepiņš of Latvia and Trek-Segafredo on 30 points.

The penultimate sixth stage of the Tour de Pologne is a 19km individual time trial Katowice tomorrow.