Tour de Pologne Women: Chiara Consonni sprints to stage 1 victory

Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) was the fastest in the bunch sprint to win the opening stage at the Tour de Pologne Women. The Italian sprinter outkicked runner-up Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek) and third-placed Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health) in Zamosc.

Consonni's stage victory means that she will wear the event's first leader's jersey with a seven-second advantage over Copponi and Schweinberger as the race heads into stage 2 held in Chelm on Wednesday.

“This is my first Tour de Pologne, and I’m really happy to be racing in Poland. I had never been before, but the people are so kind, outgoing and cheerful that it feels a bit like home. There were so many fans lining the roads and cheering us on, and the atmosphere was fantastic. This is also my first road victory of the season and my first with the team, which makes me incredibly happy," Consonni said in a post-race press release from the Tour de Pologne.

"We were fairly sure that this stage would end in a bunch sprint most of the time, but in cycling, you never really know. We worked well as a team, kept the race under control and close to the breakaway, and then I gave it my all in the sprint to achieve my goal," she continued.

"When I saw the 100m sign, I started my sprint, and crossing the finish line first was an incredible feeling. Today, everything went the way I had hoped. Now we’ll see what we can do in the next two stages, but for now, I’m just enjoying the moment."

The Tour de Pologne Women's race move from it's late-June spot on the calendar to mid-August, which has yielded a higher-quality field featuring seven WorldTeams, four ProTeams and combination of Continental, club and national teams at a race the offers a chance for development riders to gain experience competing among some of the best in the world across three days of racing.

The opening stage featured a 105.7km race that started in Zamosc with a time bonus located at the 76km mark, along the primarily flat route back into Zamosc.

Iurani Blanco (Human Powered Health) committed to a solo breakaway gaining nearly a minute on the peloton, but as the race approached the intermediate sprint for time bonuses, she was reeled in, with Consonni winning the sprint in Szczebrzeszyn with 29km remaining.

The field was all together through the wide-open boulevards in the last kilometres with Lidl-Trek and Canyon-Sram zondacrypto taking up the reins in the last 800 metres along the right-hand side of the final straight away.

Austrian champion, Schweinberger, started her sprint first, but in the drag race to the line, she was passed by faster sprinters Consonni and Copponi.

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