The dust from the Tour de France has barely settled before the build-up to the Vuelta a España has begun. And this year’s Tour de Pologne will, as ever, give some of the top contenders for Spain a chance to run through their stage racing scales prior to heading to Barcelona on August 26th, as well as being a coveted prize to win itself.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) were second and third overall, respectively, in the Giro d’Italia this May. They are set to be back on the Grand Tour start grid in Spain in a month’s time and are arguably the two most-established names seeking to test their form in the week-long race.
At the other end of the spectrum, Pologne is also well-known as a testing ground for up-and-coming stars, with last year’s winner Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), 24, and runner-up Thymen Arensman, 23, both cases in point. Now racing alongside Hayter in Ineos Grenadiers, Arensman will be back in Pologne this year, and after winning last year’s hilly time trial, this year’s flatter test against the clock on stage 6 in Katowice will likely be another target for the Dutch star.
For home fans, Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates), both former outright winners of their home race, will be the main local attractions. A climber like Majka may arguably find next Thursday’s time trial too difficult a challenge for an overall bid, but Kwiatkowski, assuming he has recovered well from the Tour de France, could be in the mix for a second GC victory.
Interest will be high too in how Giro d’Italia stage winner and talented US all-rounder Brandon McNulty fares on Poland’s captivating mixture of steep uphill finishes, flat bunch sprint stages and rolling hill country. That very variable terrain could also well suit versatile racers like recent Tour de France stage winner Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), German all-rounder Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), former Pologne stage winner and leader Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) and another former Pologne winner, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates), finally back in race action after a long spell battling injury.
The sprinters’ field, too in this year’s Tour de Pologne, is a typically deep one. Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), already a winner this July in central Europe in the Sibiu Tour, will be looking to make his mark here, while Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), who triumphed early on in…
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