75. Tour de Pologne, 4-10 August (2.UWT)

[dick the quick]

Route:

Pretty much the same as over previous years – the same race design and the same geographical area. A well-balanced combination of flat stages for the pure sprinters and rolling hilly/medium mountain stages ending with uphill finishes for GC contenders. Stages are short or very short as per WT standards (the longest stage = 179 km). No time trial.

Stage 1: Kraków – Kraków, 134 km (flat)

Stage 2: Tarnowskie Góry – Katowice, 156 km (flat)

Stage 3: Chorzów – Zabrze, 139 km (flat)

Stage 4: Jaworzno – Szczyrk, 179 km (hilly/medium mountain, HTF)

This is where the real race begins for the GC contenders (last year, Dylan Teuns won on the same short sharp final climb, and that ultimately proved enough for the overall GC triumph).

Stage 5: Wieliczka – Bielsko-Biała, 152 km (hilly)

This could be an interesting stage to watch, as all the main difficulties of the day are located in the last 40 km of the race, ending with a rather demanding lap to be ridden three times (2 km long uphill drag to the finish line, 4% on average). This may prove too much for typical sprinters. “All-terrain” sprinters or puncheurs can take this one.

Stage 6: Zakopane – Bukowina Tatrzańska, 129 km (hilly/medium mountain, HTF)

An Ardennes-type stage (but shortish), typical for the final phase of this race. Either a solo win of a GC contender or a sprint from a reduced group of GC favourites.

Stage 7: Bukowina Tatrzańska – Bukowina Tatrzańska, 136 km (hilly/medium mountain, HTF)

Very similar to stage 6, just a different combination of climbs. The same prediction: a solo GC guy win or an uphill sprint fight between several GC contenders.

Startlist (teams and notable riders):

Ag2R (Bakelants)
Astana (Lutsenko)
Bahrain (Bonifazio, Gasparotto, Visconti)
BMC (Dennis, Roche, Teuns)
Bora (Ackermann, Buchmann, Formolo, Konrad)
Dimension Data (Boasson Hagen, O’Connor)
EF-Cannondale (Modolo, Moreno)
Groupama-FdJ (Pinot)
Katusha (Spilak)
Lotto-Jumbo (Bennett, van Poppel)
Lotto-Soudal (Greipel)
Mitchelton (Albasini, Kreuziger, Mezgec, Trentin, S. Yates)
Movistar (Betancur, Carapaz)
Quickstep (de Plus, Hodeg)
Sky (Henao, Kwiatkowski)
Sunweb (Bauhaus, Oomen)
Trek (Brambilla, Nizzolo, Pantano)
UAE Emirates (Aru, Consonni, Costa)

Wildcards:
CCC (Antunes, Tratnik)
Cofidis (Bouhanni)
Gazprom (Rovny)
Poland national team (Paterski, Rutkiewicz)

Full startlist (provisional):
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-pologne/2018/startlist

There will be a solid bunch of top- and second-tier sprinters (Ackermann, Bauhaus, Bonifazio, Bouhanni, Consonni, Greipel, Hodeg, Mezgec, Modolo, Nizzolo, van Poppel) going for flat sprint stages, plus some fast guys who could do well also in hilly terrain (Battaglin, Boasson Hagen, Trentin, Visconti).

GC-wise, the favourites seem to be (in alphabetical order): Aru, Bennett, Betancur, Brambilla, Buchmann, Carapaz, de Plus, Formolo, Henao, Konrad, Kwiatkowski, O’Connor, Oomen, Pantano, Pinot, Spilak, Teuns, S. Yates. This is ofc based on the assumption that they are all in shape and they will treat this event not as a prep race only.

Quite a lot of national champions in the peloton: Ackermann (Germany), Duchesne (Canada), Edmondson (Australia), Henao (Colombia), Kwiatkowski (Poland), Lutsenko (Kazakhstan), Morkov (Denmark) and Rovny (Russia).

Roadbook: http://www.tourdepologne.pl/pl/media/#

 

[Red Rick]

Tame route, no ITT and y axis of profiles blow.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

Rather good there is no TT. These stages are not hard enough for big gaps. TT would have played way too much factor.

Last year was super fun battle with Teuns defending his GC by few seconds. I expect anther close battle this yearm

 

[movingtarget]

Looks a bit of a dull route.

 

[yaco]

Tour of Poland doesn't need an ITT with its style of parcours - Seems Ewan has been withdrawn from Poland - he did himself no favors with his antics at the Surrey Classic.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You know the endurance side of the sport is becoming a joke when 129km is described as "shortish".

 

[Tank Engine]

Mostly a tried and tested parcours. But why change it if it isn't broken? The long drag finish in Bielsko-Biała is the biggest novelty. Battaglin and EBH shoud do well there. I expect a bit fight between BMC and Mitchelto. The irregular Bukowina Wall is always a fun climb (to watch).

 

[Valv.Piti]

I have no clue whats up with the length of these stages. Flat stages of around 140 km is something that pretty much every cyclist can do, its just too much (or too little, rather!). Seriously, most cycling can average 40 km/ph in a bunch on a completely flat stage. I hope the guys who are preparing for other races are doing at least an hours afterwards as well.

The hilly stages are nice, but extremely short.

 

[railxmig]

Two Bukowina laps, yaaaay... At least the first Bukowina stage has different hills even if it should be reworked. Sad that Przegibek is so far away from the finish but then it could be an interesting fight between more durable sprinters and punchers. I guess the stages were shortened to keep the transfers less. Technically i don't care about the stage's length but lately they're really getting shorter and shorter. Maybe i just need more time to get used to this trend.

Below are the profiles used on the official site. I guess they're be dead in next couple of months though.

 

[GuyIncognito]

This route needs a TT to balance it

 

[Lequack]

Is there any English coverage? I know Eurosport used to do it in the past.

 

[markene2]

Alexey Lutsenko will win this bike race

 

[SHAD0W93]

Hopefully EBH has good form because if so he can win quite a bit of the stages.

 

[Scarponi]

I see they are never going back to Italy for the Stage 1 and 2 MTFs haha

 

[HelloDolly]

Have they no mountains in Poland ???
Mind you route is made fro Kwaito

IS this race on ES live ?? and if so when does coverage start

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Have they no mountains in Poland ???

Vast majority od Poland has no mountains at all.

There are some at the very south. There are very few longish climbs with roads and infrastructure good enough for a WT race, though.

 

[MotorRouleur]

Shorter stages are often different from 'regular' stages in that there's no first hour of coasting & chatting.
Pologne has the best podium girls.

 

[AQETUYIOI]

Re:

IS this race on ES live ?? and if so when does coverage start

https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-pologne/2018/krakow-krakow_mtc999311/live.shtml

 

[klintE]

Re:

Have they no mountains in Poland ???
Mind you route is made fro Kwiato

Of course. And last year (very similar) it was also made up for Kwiato. Even though he did not compete

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

IS this race on ES live ?? and if so when does coverage start

https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-pologne/2018/krakow-krakow_mtc999311/live.shtml

Thanks for that but still doesn't say when coverage begins ?

Also I have ES TV and it is not listed on that...I pay to subscribe to ES TV ...damned if i will pay extra for ES player
ES trying to rip people off twice ...

 

[Anderis]

Antunes is reportedly injured and won't start.

 

[dick the quick]

Final startlist:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjgzNzc=

Antunes and Betancur out
Padun in

 

[PlanZ]

Many thanks for the comprehensive preview, everybody.
Much appreciated.

 

[Tim Booth]

Re:

Final startlist:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjgzNzc=

Antunes and Betancur out
Padun in

www.cyclingfever.com has not said that this startlist is final. (yet)

 

[dick the quick]

Re: Re:

Final startlist:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjgzNzc=

Antunes and Betancur out
Padun in

http://www.cyclingfever.com has not said that this startlist is final. (yet)

True, but all the guys included therein were present during today's team presentation in Krakow (saw in TV).