7th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia won in Kraków, exactly in the same way as a year ago. That stage finished 67. Tour de Pologne.

Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transistors won the general classification. It's the biggest achievement in career of 24-year-old.

Jacek Morajko, the Poland's Champion, was in three-men break, but the last of the riders was catched up on the rounds in Kraków, and again it was finish of the whole peleton.

Two Poles finished the race in the best ten. Sylwester Szmyd of Liquigas was 6th, Marek Rutkiewicz of Polska BGŻ on 7th place.

Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil won both the mountain classification.
and intermediate sprints classification. Allan Davies of Astana won the points classification. Garmin-Transitions was named the best team.

Sadly, it's another Tour de Pologne without any victory of Polish cyclist.

If you look on the budget of the teams which take part in the race and compare it with our modest one, we can say that we did our work well. I'm very, very happy how of the lads' performance", said Piotr Wadecki, the coach of the Team Polska BGŻ.

Poland has no professional ProTour team. The Polish national team always gets a wild card for Tour de Pologne.

The national team consisted of two country groups CCC Polsat Polkowice and Mróz Active Jet. They cooperated effectively with each other. They made one team.

The World Championships in Melbourne are coming. However, any of the Poles, who were called-up to the national team, is not going to go there, as the coach decided that only those who are a part of foreign group can prepare to the Championships sucessfully. The season in Poland finishes with Tour de Pologne, save for a few short races. Apparently it's not enough practise.

It was a fine race, and I'm happy I could watch all of it. Looking forward to 68. Tour de Pologne!

6th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Everything was to be decided on this stage. Today it's much easier one, and it's most unlikely there is going to be a bigger change in the general classification.

The stage started in Oświęcim. A symbolical moment when the peleton stopped by the gate of Auschwitz concentration camp, built and operated in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The cyclist laid white roses under the gate to mark a 65. anniversary of liberation the surviving prisoners and the city.



The route was really hard. A lot of cyclist stayed behind the main group, several dozens of riders. There were breaks on the last kilometers, but there were not succesful.

But it was so close! Marek Rutkiewicz of Team Poland BGŻ made a break from the peleton 15 km before the finishing line. He was leading very long, crossed the finishing line first on the next to the last lap, but the peleton catched him up soon.

Watch the video of Rutkiewicz's break here: link.

Eventaully it was Bauke Mollema of Rabobank who crossed the finishing line first. There was no chage of the lider of the general classification, however, and Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transistors is the most likely to win the race. Seems the Poles have to wait another year!

Watch the video of Mollema's finish: link

The best of Poles was Sylvester Szmyd of Liquigas. He is 6th in the general classification. He was dissapointed how everything tuned out.

"I'm sad. I though that I had a chance, that I could do what Mollema did. (...) On the contrary to what I expected, todays stage was harder than yesterdays."

He criticized the lone break of Marek Rutkiewicz.

"It was without a chance. It was obvious that the cyclits of the lider's group will take after him, as well as Lampre and Caisse d'Epargne. It might looked cool, nice in the tv, but it would be a miracle if "Rutek" crossed the finishing line first.

Hope both Szmyd and Rutkiewicz are going to be among the best ten participatns of the race, but, well, in the road bicycle races only the first place really counts.

5th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transitions team won the 5th stage. He made an sucessful break from the group of cyclist on a particulary steep uphill road, a few km before the finishing line and didn't gave up the lead.

Two Polish riders were in the first ten. Sylwester Szmyd (Liquigas) was third and Marek Rutkiewicz (Polska BGŻ) was eight. They still count in the competition for winning the general classification.

Amzing speed on the downhill rides... Up to 110 km/h. Unbelieveable.