Michał Kwiatkowski is a Polish rider who won the La Coupe du Président de la Ville de Grudziądz and Course de la Paix Juniors in 2007, the time trial European and world championships in 2008 as a junior and the Polish road race title as an under-23 in 2009. The early results demonstrated his versatility as a strong climber, competent GC racer who also excels in one-day races. began his professional career in 2010 with a one-year stint at the Continental team Caja Rural before being recruited by the RadioShack team in 2011. When that team was absorbed by the Leopard-Trek team, Kwiatkowski moved to the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team, where he remained through 2015.
During his time at the Belgian Classics team, Kwiatkowski landed on the podium of Tour de Pologne in 2012, and Volta ao Algarve in 2013 in addition to winning the best young riders' classification in Tirreno-Adriatico and finishing fourth overall. Also in 2013, he began showing prowess in the Ardennes Classics, finishing the Amstel Gold Race in fourth and fifth in Flèche Wallonne. In his first Tour de France that year, Kwiatkowski had a consistent ride to finish 11th, and later was part of Quickstep's gold medal team time trial squad at Worlds.
He came into his own in 2014, winning the Volta ao Algarve and Strade Bianche, landing podiums at the Tour of the Basque Country, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He finished 28th in the Tour de France before coming back to take second at Tour of Britain before winning the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada.
As world champion, Kwiatkowski landed podiums in Algarve and Paris-Nice before winning the Amstel Gold Race in his final year with Quickstep. He moved to Team Sky in 2016 and had a mixed year, with a win in the E3 Harelbeke before being derailed by illnesses. Crashes in the Criterium Dauphiné and Tour de Pologne spoiled those races and he reset to focus on the Olympic Games in Rio, but came away empty handed there, at the Vuelta and Worlds.
He rebounded in 2017, taking the victory in Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, two more Ardennes podiums and the Clasica San Sebastian along with helping Chris Froome win the Tour de France. Kwiatkowski began 2018 with wins in Algarve, Tirreno-Adriatico and two stages at the Dauphiné before supporting Geraint Thomas in his Tour de France victory. He won the Tour de Pologne two weeks later, then raced the Vuelta. He ended the year just off the podium at Worlds in the time trial and, the following year paid for his packed season going winless aside from the Paris-Nice points classification.
As with all pro riders, his 2020 season was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he won a stage of the Tour de France from a day-long breakaway on stage 18 to La Roche-sur-Foron.
The following year, a crash and a broken rib hampered Kwiatkowski's early season and he misfired in the Classics. He supported Richard Carapaz in the Tour de France before turning his focus to the rescheduled Olympics in Tokyo, where he finished 11th. A podium in the Tour de Pologne and the TTT stage win in Tour of Britain were all he could manage in the rest of the year.
In 2022, Kwiatkowski claimed a fine victory in the Amstel Gold Race, narrowly out-sprinting Benoit Cosnefroy in a controversial photo finish. After not racing any Grand Tours in 2022, he returned to the Tour de France, winning stage 13 on the Grand Colombier from a long breakaway.
At 33, he renewed with Ineos through 2025.
Key Results
1st Tour de France stage 13 (2023), stage 18 (2020)
1st World Road Race Championships 2014
1st Milan-San Remo 2017
1st Amstel Gold Race 2015, 2022
1st E3 Harelbeke 2016
1st Strade Bianche 2014, '17
1st Clasica San Sebastian 2017
1st overall Volta ao Algarve 2014, '18
1st overall Tirreno-Adriatico 2018
1st Polish national road race champion 2013
1st Polish national time trial champion 2014, '17
1st World Team Time Trial Championships 2013
2nd Amstel Gold Race 2017
2nd Tour of the Basque Country 2014
2nd Tour of Britain 2014
2nd Paris–Nice 2015
2nd Volta ao Algarve 2013, '15, '17
3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2014, '17
3rd La Flèche Wallonne 2014
3rd Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen 2011
3rd Three Days of De Panne 2011
3rd Tour du Poitou-Charentes 2011
