Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) set the fastest time on the 16.6km time trial and won stage 6 of the Tour de Pologne. Race leader Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) surprisingly clung onto the GC lead but is now tied on time with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), second on the stage. Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) is in third place at 14 seconds down. The GC battle could now come down to the fight for time bonuses on the last stage into Krakow.
Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) accelerated with 150 metres to the line and won stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne. Race leader Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) finished several bike lengths behind, with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) in third. The stage was overshadowed by an earlier incident in the final local circuit, when a TV motorbike went off the road and struck various spectators, with four members of the public sent to hospital.
Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) won the bunch sprint victory in stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne, hitting the line several bike lengths ahead of Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5). after the 199-kilometre flat stage from Strzelin to Opole, Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) remained in the overall lead for a third successive day.
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Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) took victory on stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne across the steep uphill finish to Duszniki-Zdrój. He held off race leader Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) in a small group sprint.
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) won stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne at the tough summit finish of Karpacz. He outdueled João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) on the climb and took hold of the yellow jersey as the new race leader.
Stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne has seen Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) take a clear bunch sprint victory on a crash-marred finale at the Poznan motor-racing circuit. The Belgian powered down the right-hand side to win by over a bike length ahead of Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) with Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) in third.
The Tour de Pologne is central Europe's only WorldTour series stage race and is also its country's biggest cycling event. A week-long race featuring bunch sprint and hilly stages is traditionally decided by very small time gaps, where bonus seconds can be crucial.
Having started in 1928 as an amateur race and now in its 80th edition, in 1993 it became a fully professional-only race, before joining the WorldTour series in 2005.
Run by the Lang organisation since 1993, three riders hold the record for three wins in the event: Dariusz Baranowski, Andrzej Mierzejewski and Marian Wieckowski.
Last year's race was won by Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) after finishing close behind Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage 3's uphill finish, then a strong time trial performance on stage 6 netted the Briton the lead. Second overall was Thymen Arensman (DSM) and third Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious).
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Tour de Pologne 2023 route
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2023 Tour de Pologne route(Image credit: Tour de Pologne)
Celebrating its 80th edition, the 2023 Tour de Pologne will tackle 1130 kilometres in a completely different from last year, as the event moved from the east to the west of Poland. The seven-stage race features one time trial stage, two mountain stages, two stages for sprinters and two hilly stages.
The race returns to Poznan for the first time in 16 years, with a 183.7km circuit stage designed for the sprinters, then heads south to the mountains on the Czech border before heading east towards its traditional finish in Krakow.
Other standout features include an uphill finish at Orlinek in the town of Karpacz on stage 3 as well as a tough series of climbs to a more familiar finish at Bielsko-Biala on stage 4.
This year it once again features an individual time trial, as well as a traditional finish in Bionie Park in Krakow, where the race is set to end until at least 2026.
Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) (Image credit: Getty)
Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) headlines the foreign challengers in this year's Tour de Pologne as the Portuguese racer, third overall in the 2023 Giro d'Italia and the winner of Pologne in 2021, starts his second part of the season here.
The local opposition will be headlined by Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), an overall winner in 2018, second in 2012 and third in 2021, while Rafal Majka, who took Pologne outright in 2014, will give UAE Team Emirates a second option beside Almeida.
The headline name for the race's multiple bunch sprints will, for a second year running, be Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), winner of a stage last year.
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