- Nov 16, 2013
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I don't often open race threads (maybe for fear of getting burnt, maybe out of laziness, nobody will know) but with no fewer than four stage races coming up next week (good luck Axelgaard), I thought it would be prudent to have a separate thread for Tour de Pologne which can actually be watched on HBO Max this year.
The route is probably the best ever - the only annoying thing is that the TT is on the final day - and there is only really one option for the sprinters (stage 1). I haven't analysed it in detail so the following is based only on La Flamme Rouge's profiles:
Stage 1 - flat
Stage 2 - upill finish in Karpacz - a finish that was used no less than two times in last year's race with Nys winning stage 1 and Wellens somewhat surprisingly winning the uphill TT on stage 2 ahead of Vingegaard who would go on to win the GC, however.
Stage 3 - mega-hard murito type stage. Good to see other races picking up the mantle now that Tirreno-Adriatico apparently have decided not to use this kind of stage anymore.
Stage 4 - maybe a small chance for sprinters, but it's an uphill drag to the line and there are some lumps in the middle of the stage that could be too hard.
Stage 5 - an undulating stage to Zakopane which might look harder on the profile than it is if you look at the percentages of the climbs which seem a bit shallow. Still not your typical sprint day, though, far from it.
Stage 6 - the Bukowina Tatrzanska stage finally makes its comeback for the first time since Remco absolutely destroyed the field in 2020 (it was used as a MTT in 2022 but that doesn't really count) after having featured every single year between 2010 and 2020.
Edit: The above is not correct. The finale was also used last year but apparently called Bukovina Resort, which was why it didn't pop up when I searched for it on CQRanking.
Stage 7 - an ITT to settle the matter. If this had been on stage 4 instead, I don't think there could be much criticism levelled at this route (based on the profiles, I don't know if there are some controversial shenanigans going on in the final kilometres of some of the stages).
The field, however, is not too mouth-watering.
The Polish duo of Majka and Kwiatkowski will be there with the former having just announced that this will be his last season and the latter finally ready to race after five months on the sideline.
They will probably not be primed for the win, however, and to me it looks like it will be between Antonio Tiberi, Magnus Sheffield, Mathias Vacek, Maxim Van Gils and the UAE duo of Brandon McNulty (whom I don't have much faith in) and Jan Christen.
Matthew Brennan will also be here, and it will be interesting to see how much of this terrain he can handle. He should win a couple of stages but the GC seems unlikely.
www.procyclingstats.com
The route is probably the best ever - the only annoying thing is that the TT is on the final day - and there is only really one option for the sprinters (stage 1). I haven't analysed it in detail so the following is based only on La Flamme Rouge's profiles:
Stage 1 - flat
Stage 2 - upill finish in Karpacz - a finish that was used no less than two times in last year's race with Nys winning stage 1 and Wellens somewhat surprisingly winning the uphill TT on stage 2 ahead of Vingegaard who would go on to win the GC, however.
Stage 3 - mega-hard murito type stage. Good to see other races picking up the mantle now that Tirreno-Adriatico apparently have decided not to use this kind of stage anymore.
Stage 4 - maybe a small chance for sprinters, but it's an uphill drag to the line and there are some lumps in the middle of the stage that could be too hard.
Stage 5 - an undulating stage to Zakopane which might look harder on the profile than it is if you look at the percentages of the climbs which seem a bit shallow. Still not your typical sprint day, though, far from it.
Stage 6 - the Bukowina Tatrzanska stage finally makes its comeback for the first time since Remco absolutely destroyed the field in 2020 (it was used as a MTT in 2022 but that doesn't really count) after having featured every single year between 2010 and 2020.
Edit: The above is not correct. The finale was also used last year but apparently called Bukovina Resort, which was why it didn't pop up when I searched for it on CQRanking.
Stage 7 - an ITT to settle the matter. If this had been on stage 4 instead, I don't think there could be much criticism levelled at this route (based on the profiles, I don't know if there are some controversial shenanigans going on in the final kilometres of some of the stages).
The field, however, is not too mouth-watering.
The Polish duo of Majka and Kwiatkowski will be there with the former having just announced that this will be his last season and the latter finally ready to race after five months on the sideline.
They will probably not be primed for the win, however, and to me it looks like it will be between Antonio Tiberi, Magnus Sheffield, Mathias Vacek, Maxim Van Gils and the UAE duo of Brandon McNulty (whom I don't have much faith in) and Jan Christen.
Matthew Brennan will also be here, and it will be interesting to see how much of this terrain he can handle. He should win a couple of stages but the GC seems unlikely.
Startlist for Tour de Pologne 2025
Competing teams and riders for Tour de Pologne 2025. Top competitors are Olav Kooij, Paul Magnier and Chris Froome.
www.procyclingstats.com
Last edited:
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