Mathew Hayman is hoping Team Sky can continue their hot run of form at the Tour of Poland this week and will be doing all he can to try and ensure that happens.

The Australian was instrumental in Russell Downing's overall victory at the Tour de Wallonie and produced a typically selfless display to lead out the Yorkshireman to his decisive final stage triumph.

That result was all the more impressive given the fact that the squad had gone into the race a man down, and also lost Greg Henderson and Kurt-Asle Arvesen during the five days of action.

Nicolas Portal was the only other rider to complete that race and Hayman believes the outcome was a massive coup for everyone involved.

He said: "I don't think a lot of people in the race expected us to win because there were only three of us left on that final stage. That meant we could ride under the radar a bit though and we definitely capitalised on that.

"Russell had got himself into contention the day before by sneaking to 10th position and clocking the same time as the leaders, and then he produced a great ride on that last day.

"Nicolas rode us to the front with about 3km to go and when he was spent I took over and got Russell into position about 800m out. From then on he fought all the way to the finish line, and he needed to because there wasn't much in it. Russell's such a gutsy rider and when he's given an opportunity like that he grabs hold of it. It was a really impressive performance and great result all-round.

"Originally the race wasn't seen as a high priority because a lot of us were coming back off breaks, but we all like to race and when we saw there was an opportunity there, we just dug in and gave it our all."

In the days since then Hayman has been recharging his batteries for the Tour of Poland and believes the squad competing there are capable of further success.

He added: "It's going to be a race of two halves. The first stages will definitely favour the sprinters, whereas the rest are more suited to the climbers. We've got a few guys in each category so hopefully we will be able to accomplish something in both halves.

"Ben Swift, Greg and CJ [Sutton] are all fast guys and I'll be put to work in the first few days for them. CJ's coming into the race after another win last week in the Brixia Tour, and Swifty's going great guns as well.

"Greg's been a little bit under the weather recently but I think he's coming around now and he'll hopefully be in the hunt. We'll see what happens on the road but we always have good communication and we will play our best hand on each day.

"Then, once the race hits the mountains, my role could then change to support the likes of Lars-Petter [Nordhaug], Kjell [Carlström] and Pete [Kennaugh]."

Improvements

This year is the third time Hayman has taken part in the tour and he has seen improvements with every passing season:

"The organisation is definitely getting better. In the first couple of years there were a few issues with putting on an event of this size - things like the placement of the finish lines, barriers, and the quality of the roads - but they seem to have been ironed out now and it should be a great race."

The Tour of Poland runs between 1-7 August and we'll have detailed reports and reaction every step of the way.