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74. Tour de Pologne (2.UWT), July 29 - August 4

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Teuns and the rest getting back was the punishment the five strongest deserved for staring at each other when they were away as the lead chase group. They are probably still going to be the strongest tomorrow though.

The hilly classic style stage in Poland is always really good. In fact the climbing stages in general there are often fun, which for years left me with a vague and entirely confused impression that Poland is a country full of pretty and dramatic hills.

I like that Sagan will go deep enough to completely blow himself up to defend a probably undefendable yellow jersey.

Great ride from Haig. He looks like a young rider with a notable future.
 
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Zinoviev Letter said:
Teuns and the rest getting back was the punishment the five strongest deserved for staring at each other when they were away as the lead chase group. They are probably still going to be the strongest tomorrow though.

The hilly classic style stage in Poland is always really good. In fact the climbing stages in general there are often fun, which for years left me with a vague and entirely confused impression that Poland is a country full of pretty and dramatic hills.

I like that Sagan will go deep enough to completely blow himself up to defend a probably undefendable yellow jersey.

Great ride from Haig. He looks like a young rider with a notable future.
Poland is mostly a very flat country. Only the southern Poland and some parts in the north are hilly. Over 10 years ago, when TdP was still a continental race it liked to have the western route with Koszalin, Poznań, hilltop finish on Orlinek in Karpacz and an MTT to said Orlinek. I'm mentioning this because the first stage was often a loop around Gdańsk and a hilly region known as Kaszuby and many guys tried to design really fine WC courses in Gdańsk. other interesting, but very isolated roads are around Suwałki.

Other interesting places are karstic Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska between Cracov and Częstochowa, Sandomierz and also karstic Roztocze (Kazimierz Dolny, Zamość). If you want longer and less steep climbs you can play with Kotlina Kłodzka (Kłodzka valley) or nearby Góry Stołowe (table mountains) near Wałbrzych.

I was thinking (as i have it almost ready) about going back to Tour de Pologne using Gdańsk, Teutonic Knights route from Malbork to Toruń (Ciechocinek?) via Kwidzyń and Golub-Dobrzyń, a historic route in Greater Poland via Włocławek, Brześć Kujawski, Płowce, Kruszwica, Biskupin and Ostrów Lednicki to either Poznań or Gniezno, an uphill sprint in Trzebnica and then a modified lap in Karpacz.

As for the race... i hope next time this Zakopane stage will be after Bukowina one. I also wonder how incorporating Gliczarów Górny to the Zakopane loop would work. It was also nice to see Nibali being himself - a really good attack followed by an almost complete blowup. Sometimes i wonder, how he managed to win that many GTs. Also nice to see Majka being Majka i.e. ready for the arbitrary Valverde trophy of 3rd place. Poels' sprint was Sagan-esque. I didn't know he can be that fast. Jungels was just brilliant. Dylan Teuns was in trouble, so he may have problems with Gliczarów today.

I almost forgot... chapeau for Haig, his ride was brilliant. Also his attack on the Szczyrk Mur de Huy stage was great.
 
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Jagartrott said:
What's your appreciation of the difficulty of today's stage, railxmig?
Harder or easier climbs? Exciting GC battle or will they all wait for the final climb?

Sorry, i'm not a specialist on Tour de Pologne. I think normally there is a war of attrition on the steepest part and then some action at the top, but i think in last couple of years only Majka in 2014 managed to avoid an uphill sprint of a select 5-man group, but i didn't watched the last year and the result looked crazy with Wellens doing Voigt. The action will definitely start 20km from the finis line. Considering the yesterday's stage, this time it may be a smilar scenario as it seems there are a couple of riders in similar form.

If you don't know, what Gliczarów Górny is it's this. Don't be afraid of the language barrier as you can just hover over the profile and it'll show it's slope, height and distance from the bottom.

I don't know if this Aprica-like finish in the hotel/resort Bukowina is better than the harder option going from Jurgów with 500m at 13%. Then it would mean a short false-descent finish from the other side (road 960 from the polish-slovakian border). I personally would also love to add Niedzica with it's beautiful hilltop castle overlooking Czorsztyńskie lake (Bavarian style).
 
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Sagan all over the place since the get go. Redemption for his fans who came in huge numbers, since the race is basically on the Slovak border?
 
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bosfor said:
Sagan all over the place since the get go. Redemption for his fans who came in huge numbers, since the race is basically on the Slovak border?

It was never expected he could get over those climbs with the best, he wants to get in a break to help Majka later