Racing is back and following some very exciting spectacles over the last two weeks, including some quality stage-racing, it's time for the first World Tour multi-day even since Paris-Nice, and it takes place in Pologne. Although the race was shortened we still get 5 quality days of racing on Eastern Europe and a luxurious startlist full of riders eager to pin a number (and in some cases, do repeat it).
The Route
The race starts off with a flat stage in Central Poland, nothing special to look at with a circuit finish in the city of Spodek with a little drag right before the final kilometer, but one that shouldn't pose much of a challenge for the big riders.
Stage 2 follows a very similar format, with a bit of rugged terrain halfway through the stage leading up to a circuit finish, this time in the city of Zabrze where the sprinters will have another shot at glory.
Stage 3 is a familiar sight in the Poland in a stage finish in Bielsko Biala after a very tricky and hilly stage. The stage is 198 Kilometers long with a constant up and down throughout the day with the climbs of Wielka Puszcza and Prgebizek to set things up, shed out the sprinters and perhaps put in a big hurt inbetween the climbers aswell depending on how the race goes.
After that there will be a stage finishing in a 4-lap circuit featuring a slight gradient all the way to the line, with over 2Km at an average of 4% to make it a tough finish for everyone.
The queen stage is the classic finish in Bukowina, a very tough circuit over the day in the yearly travel through the south Polish hills. It's a very explosive stage with a lot of steep climbs involved and a lot of roller coaster roads.
Finally that last sequence of climbs is set to have the decisive attacks, with the Sciana climb having some brutal gradients summiting at 13.5Km away from the finish, a small hilltop right after and the final summit finish taking in the final 3.4Km having some rough gradients in the beginning and easing out to the end, where the winner of the race will surely be decided.
Stage 5 will be the final stage as the race was shortened, despite being a flat finish into Krakow the stage is rather hard with a start in Zakopane and some rough climbing in the first half. Breakaway or a stage for the sprinters are the likely scenarios, however you can't discard a finish between some punchy riders that can get creative in the Polish hills.
Weather for the Week
I reckon it will be quite a hot week, what we'd normally be expecting of races in August right!
GC Contenders
It's an interesting race, obviously suited for the climbers and puncheurs however it's usually a mix of both, you always have to be a punchy rider to win this race but you need a lot of resistance and pure climbing capacity aswell, and of course you can never ignore the need for a lot of tactical sharpness as these are tricky stages, and only two will decide the overall if it all goes normal.
So I'll begin through the climbers, there's actually lots of them here and there's a mega strong lineup starting with the recent Vuelta a Burgos winner Remco Evenepoel. He's tremendously strong and I reckon he's the main favourite for this race, his massive engine is tremendously dangerous in the tricky stages we'll have and he has strong support in Deceuninck. From the same race came Richard Carapaz and Eddie Dunbar, different types of riders but they compliment each other very well, form however may be their biggest obstacle so far. Mitchelton bring a big set of riders and I'd note Esteban Chaves as a nice contender, could be a fluke but my hopes are high that he can perform very well, there's Simon Yates who in theory has very good and suiting set of skills but we can never know when he's good or not (however that can play to his favour), Mikel Nieve but mostly Daryl Impey could be good riders for it too, Impey has a good record of starting seasons in great form, likes the heat and the bonifications can be his if he has the legs, and he can defend himself very well in the climbs.
In a more climber/puncheur mix we have some more great names and Bora is the team you absolutely have to start with, they've been performing in a massive level and they bring a scary strong squad starting with the home rider Rafal Majka, a past winner of the race and a possible winner again and maybe by strategy, he must know those hills better than most and he has the company of Patrick Konrad who also has brilliant punchy power for these races, and perhaps EVEN more suited is Max Schachmann who finished on the podium of Strade Bianche this weekend, after winning Paris Nice in March, he has the sprint, the steep climbs, the engine for solo efforts, the team, the form, actually starts to look very very bright for him doesn't it? Bahrain brings Wout Poels who also has the punch specially in the steep bits, but he'll have very few opportunities to make damage, but a very strong contender nonetheless, Diego Ulissi and Rui Costa are leading UAE and again (damn this is getting triring isn't it?) they both have a strong sprint and a brilliant capacity of flying over the small hills of the Tatras, and also maybe Brandon McNulty could really pull something off! Wrapping of this paragraph there's, that's right, Astana Pro Team (insert Laurens de Vreese rapping). They're bringing a mega strong squad lead by Jakob Fuglsang, on the hunt for another win to his short but successful season and co-lead by Ion Izagirre who's won the race back in 2015, so you know he also really likes this race. Also, now that I'm on the subject of past winners, Tim Wellens is also set to be on the startline hoping to repeat his 2016 success.
There's plenty more big names, last year's surprises Jay Hindley who finished second is back and should be the team's leader, despite not being the biggest name as Wilco Kelderman will be in there aswell as a strong option, and Chris Hamilton as a backup in case things go wrong. The other one was Jonas Vingegaard, perhaps coming for vengeance as he was leading the overall into the queen stage last year before cracking, maybe he can have a crack this year instead, backed up by young fellow Scandinavian talent Tobias Foss. In some more teams there's big hitters mainly CCC with Simon Geschke, also as perhaps Ilnur Zakarin maybe he could pull a surprise, there's Groupama's Rudy Molard who's actually a legitimate contender for a win but it's so complicated to put him in the big list with so much quality, EF have Neilson Powless, Israel have James Piccoli, not the most suiting of races but he's a big talent! Finally, count also on Eduard Prades for a Top10 for the overall.
The Sprinters
In the sprinter field there are big big names and you will get big spectacles in the fast finishes for sure, specially count on this duel Pascal Ackermann vs Dylan Groenewegen. The first one, leading Bora's side of the sprint squad has Rudiger Selig and Michael Schwarzmann so he will come in very very confident, whilst the latter isn't coming in with his leadout so maybe have a disadvantage, but I can't deny he has possibly the best peak power in the race. On the sidelines there's Fabio Jakobsen who will also be expecting a stage win, with Sénéchal in there and an uprising career, Deceuninck know how to win so he's a legitimate threat.
But in reality, in a chaotic finish there's plenty of contenders to take a win if needed as Luka Mezgec who took two strong wins last year here, Rudy Barbier as a very sharp sprinters who's won in San Juan this year, UAE have Jasper Philipsen and Juan Sebastian Molano as a very strong and dangerous duo, as is Trek who are bringing their classics team who include the Belgians Jasper Stuyven and Edward Theuns. Remaining on the classics guys John Degenkolb is representing Lotto Soudal, Ivan Cortina is with Bahrain as is a young man called Mark Cavendish, there's Szymon Sajnok with CCC, Alberto Dainese with Sunweb, Ryan Gibbons with NTT, Marc Sarreau with Groupama and finally Moreno Hofland with EF.
Prediction Time
⭐ Poels, Vlasov, I.Izagirre, Majka, Hindley, Kelderman, Carapaz, Chaves, S.Yates
I just can't get over it, Remco is amazing and he's for a race like this without a doubt top-notch on the whole of cycling. Even though he's got no TT to put time into his competitors, if he finds a gap anywhere in those two hilly stages his competitors will only see him at the finish, he's raging in confidence and he's got nothing to loose, he'll take Pologne as he's taken every single stage-race he's competed this season. Oh and the man behind him there, for sure he'll finish second ;)
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