The route of Poland’s oldest and most prestigious cycling race, the 81st Tour de Pologne, will start on August 12 in Wrocław, western Poland, and will end a week later, as tradition dictates, in Krakow’s famous park Błonia.
The first three stages of this year's race will take place in Lower Silesia, a province of southwestern Poland, with two finishes on the Orlinek climb in the town of Karpacz.
The last stage in the province is the Wałbrzych to Duszniki-Zdrój route, where the strong Polish climber Rafał Majka triumphed last year.
“I am very happy that Wrocław is on the route of the race, especially since it is a cycling city. Many cyclists come from here; there was a Dolmel club founded by [renowned Polish cycling coach] Mieczysław Żelaznowski, training [many] champions,” said the general director of the race,” Czesław Lang.
“The second stage is a kind of cronoscalata [Italian for ‘climbing against time’]. Let's remember that Alberto Contador, a multiple winner of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, started his career here, winning the individual time trial,” Lang added.
The last stage in the province is the Wałbrzych to Duszniki-Zdrój route, where the strong Polish climber Rafał Majka triumphed last year.
“I am very happy that Wrocław is on the route of the race, especially since it is a cycling city. Many cyclists come from here; there was a Dolmel club founded by [renowned Polish cycling coach] Mieczysław Żelaznowski, training [many] champions,” said the general director of the race,” Czesław Lang.
“The second stage is a kind of cronoscalata [Italian for ‘climbing against time’]. Let's remember that Alberto Contador, a multiple winner of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, started his career here, winning the individual time trial,” Lang added.
The middle part of the tour will be a chance for the fastest riders in the peloton to gain the upper hand. The fourth stage of this year's race will start in the spa city of Kudowa-Zdrój and end in Prudnik, the hometown of the legendary Polish cyclist and two-time Olympic silver medalist, Stanisław Szozda.
The fifth stage will start and end in Katowice, and most of the route will lead the peloton along the “Eagle Nests Trail,” which takes in a chain of 25 medieval castles.
The last two stages of this year's competition will take place in the Małopolska province, in southeastern Poland. On August 16, the cyclists will start from Wadowice and finish in the Bukovina Resort.
“With the start in Wadowice, we want to commemorate the city where the great Pole John Paul II was born. The finish will be in the same place where Rafał Majka and Remco Evenepoel won,” Lang said.
The final stage will begin on August 18 at the legendary Wieliczka Salt Mine, and fans will gather at the traditional finishing point of Błonia Park.
“We say that Krakow is to the Tour de Pologne what Paris is to the Tour de France, and we want to maintain this tradition,” Lang said.
The Tour de Pologne was first held in 1928, and for many years it was available to amateurs only. Recent decades saw the status of the oldest cycling race in Poland gradually elevated, and in 2009 it was made part of the most prestigious UCI World Tour.
Among the winners of the Tour de Pologne are renowned cyclists who competed successfully in the most prestigious races in the UCI World Tour, like Jens Voigt, Peter Sagan, Remco Evenepoel, Rafał Majka, and Michał Kwiatkowski.
The fifth stage will start and end in Katowice, and most of the route will lead the peloton along the “Eagle Nests Trail,” which takes in a chain of 25 medieval castles.
The last two stages of this year's competition will take place in the Małopolska province, in southeastern Poland. On August 16, the cyclists will start from Wadowice and finish in the Bukovina Resort.
“With the start in Wadowice, we want to commemorate the city where the great Pole John Paul II was born. The finish will be in the same place where Rafał Majka and Remco Evenepoel won,” Lang said.
The final stage will begin on August 18 at the legendary Wieliczka Salt Mine, and fans will gather at the traditional finishing point of Błonia Park.
“We say that Krakow is to the Tour de Pologne what Paris is to the Tour de France, and we want to maintain this tradition,” Lang said.
The Tour de Pologne was first held in 1928, and for many years it was available to amateurs only. Recent decades saw the status of the oldest cycling race in Poland gradually elevated, and in 2009 it was made part of the most prestigious UCI World Tour.
Among the winners of the Tour de Pologne are renowned cyclists who competed successfully in the most prestigious races in the UCI World Tour, like Jens Voigt, Peter Sagan, Remco Evenepoel, Rafał Majka, and Michał Kwiatkowski.
Source: TVP Sport
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