It's nearly 1,500 kilometres from western Poland to the northern Alps, and while Finn Fisher-Black was getting his share of the limelight at the Tour de Pologne team presentation on Sunday evening, his thoughts were a lot further west at the time.
Fisher-Black's sister Niamh was a key player in the last stage of the Tour de France Femmes, with her fourth place in the Alps late on Sunday her cement a fine fifth place overall. And as Finn told Cyclingnews at the stage 1 start of the Tour de Pologne on Monday, the Tour de France Femme's last evening stage was certainly keeping him glued to his mobile phone.
"I had it on my phone while we were here yesterday doing the team presentation, I was watching. I was super happy for Niamh, and it's a bit of inspiration for this week, too. I think it could be a good one," Fisher-Black said.
"[Tour de] Pologne is a race I've had marked down at the start of the year as one I want to target. So I'm here with my best legs and we'll give it a shot."
Fisher-Black knows how tough and tight a challenge at Tour de Polonge can be. As soon as it hits the key GC stages, the narrow and technical roads through the hills of southern Poland often make for a tricky, fraught event, with bonus seconds often being crucial.
In 2023, when Fisher-Black was riding with UAE Team Emirates for then-teammate João Almeida, it was "full gas every day. But that's the kind of racing I like.
"With Almeida, two years ago, the win came down to the last stage" - with Almeida suffering a narrow one-second loss after he missed out on a bonus sprint on the flat, final run-in to Krakow. "So that's something I won't be underestimating and I'll be getting in there for the bonus sprints for sure."
Fourth in the Katowice time trial in Pologne in 2023 and fifth on the lumpy Bielsko-Biala stage the day afterwards, Fisher-Black, the current New Zealand TT National Champion, says he believes the final race against the clock next Sunday could once again prove critical.
"I think it definitely could come down to the time trial, especially with the field that's here, everyone is very close, and it could be a matter of seconds on the last day," Fisher Black told Cyclingnews.
"So we'll see what happens if it comes down to the last TT. But I've done a bit of work on my time trialling recently, so hopefully I'll be prepared if it comes to that."
If his sister Niamh's recent success in the Tour de France Femmes will certainly help boost his motivation this week, Fisher-Black is hoping to have a chance to make an impact in a Grand Tour, in the Vuelta a España in late August.
His participation has yet to be definitively confirmed, though, so while he's waiting for further news on that account, Pologne will hopefully give the 23-year-old New Zealander another chance to shine.
