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.

4th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

An unusual situaiton happened today. One of the riders, Marco Marcato, though that was first to finish the stage but he was unawara that it was still one lap to ride. He had to be very dissapointed when immedietly after crossing the line he found out that he misjudged how many round was ahead of him.

Eventually it was Mirco Lorenzetto of Lampre group who won today. The last meters were not easy, as the street was paved with cobblestone. For some time one of Polish riders, Marek Rutkiewicz was on good position, but eventually he finished on 10th place.

Mountains stage had begun and the Tour is getting harder and harder. Tomorrow the most important stage. Who gets the good result is most likely to win the whole race. Keep my fingers crossed for Polish cyclists, especially for Marek Rutkiewicz!

3rd stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Jauheni Hutarowicz of FDJeux team won the 3rd stage of the race.

The averange speed on rounds in Katowice was no slower than 50 km/h. Amazing.

It was interesting to see a group of sprinters trying to break from the peleton on one of the last laps. They didn't successed, however, and again the whole peleton was finishing the stage together.

The peleton crossed the finishing line so fast. It was said the speed was 80 km/h. Unimaginable to ride a bicycle so fast!

2nd stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

This time peleton crossed the line in full squad. German cyclist Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia team won in Dąbrowa Górnicza.

Kept my fingers crossed for the break, because two Poles took part in it. Four riders separated from the rest at 15 km.

Marcin Sapa of Lampre team and Bartłomiej Matysiak of Polish national team tried to reach the finishing line before the peleton even when two other riders gave up. They effort was fruitless, as the peleton was dereminted to catch the break, and sucessed when there was only few km to the finishing line.

Remember that once, before TdP was made a part of UCI ProTour, Marcin Sapa won in Olsztyn, after a sucessful break he ride together with other Polish cyclist. It was also the 2nd stage, the longest. This time, however, he didn't had enough luck.

Interesting stage tomorrow, much shorter than todays, good for sprinters.

Jacopo Guarnieri won the 1st stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Jacopo Guarnieri of Liquigas-Doimo team won the first stage. of the race

It seemed whole peleton is going to cross the finish ling but a crash occured roughly 2 km before it. Almost all cyclists were stopped, except for 20 riders.

Good start of Polish national team. Błażej Janiaczyk took part in four-men break and won Intermediate Sprints Classification. Near the end of the race Łukasz Bodnar tried his luck and won Mountains classification.

Tomorrow the longest stage, from Rawa Mazowiecka to Dąbrowa Górnicza - 240.0 km (149.1 mi).

67. Tour de Pologne starts tomorrow

Tour de Pologne was held first time in 1928. Since 1952 is organised annualy. Until the early 1993 was open for amateur cyclists only. Since 2005 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) made TdP part of the UCI ProTour. Since 2009 it become the part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. It's one of the best sport events in Poland.

For 7 days the page about goalkeepers is going to change into a page about cyclist.

Happy because my favorite cyclist, Marek Rutkiewicz, is going to be the leader of the Polish national team. A year ago he was 6th in General classification and won Mountains classification.

The route consists of 7 stages and the main part of the race is going to take place on Silesia.

1. 1st August - Sochaczew to Warsaw, 175.1 km (108.8 mi)
2. 2nd August - Rawa Mazowiecka to Dąbrowa Górnicza, 240.0 km (149.1 mi)
3. 3th August - Sosnowiec to Katowice, 122.1 km (75.9 mi)
4. 4th August - Tychy to Cieszyn,, 177.9 km (110.5 mi)
5. 5th August - Jastrzębie-Zdrój to Ustroń 149.0 km (92.6 mi)
6. 6th August - Oświęcim to Bukowina Tatrzańska, 228.5 km (142.0 mi)
7. 7th August - Nowy Targ to Kraków, 163.9 km (101.8 mi)



Visit the offical page for more info: http://tourdepologne.pl/index.php.