A week of world-class cycling in the 83rd Tour de Pologne. Let’s relive it once again.

The emotions following the 83rd Tour de Pologne UCI WorldTour have settled. Behind us are 7 days of great racing at the highest level. The starring roles in this exceptional spectacle were played by the world’s top cyclists, who reached for victories in Poland.

Held under the slogan “North-South”, the 83rd Tour de Pologne UCI WorldTour promised to be very exciting from the very beginning. It was a race of returns – the peloton visited places it hadn’t ridden through in years. It all started in Gdynia, on board the ORP “Błyskawica” ship, where the team presentation took place in a spectacular setting. Among them were the world’s top teams and the Polish National Team.

The next day, 147 riders began the 7-day competition, planned for over 1100 kilometers. The first stage led along a long and undulating route from Gdynia to Koszalin. Despite this, the pace was dizzying, and the competitors quickly covered successive kilometers, including the “Czesław Lang’s Sector” in the Race Director’s home region. A strong breakaway was caught before the finish line in Koszalin, where Jonathan Milan from Lidl-Trek proved to be the best, defeating Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) in the final showdown.

The following day, the cyclists raced from Międzyzdroje to Szczecin, where we again witnessed a sprinter’s clash and… the exact same outcome. Once again, Milan overtook Magnier, while Marceli Bogusławski from the Polish National Team took 9th place.

On the stage from Gorzów Wielkopolski to Zielona Góra, the sprinters hoped the saying “third time’s the charm” would come true, but their plans were once again thwarted by Jonathan Milan, who this time beat Noah Hobbs from EF Education-EasyPost at the line. The Italian from Lidl-Trek thereby extended his lead in the ORLEN General Classification, but as expected, he lost the yellow jersey a day later – on the mountainous stage from Żagań to Karpacz.

There, the climbers entered the game, and Bart Lemmen from Team Visma | Lease a Bike proved to be the best on Orlinek, thereby achieving his first professional victory. The Dutchman showed off a successful attack lasting several kilometers, but in the very finale, he was almost caught by a brilliantly performing Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team).

The next two stages were again mountain tests – on the section connecting Opole and Kocierz Resort, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won after a two-man finish, and second place went to Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who placed in the top “3” of the ORLEN General Classification.

The race leader remained Bart Lemmen, but everything changed after the “queen” stage from BUKOVINA Resort to Bukowina Tatrzańska. The route, studded with steep walls, singled out the group of the best competitors of this year’s edition of the race. The stage triumph fell to Louis Barre of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who first followed the attack of Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious, and then rode away from the Colombian and crossed the finish line alone. Behind him finished Scaroni and Brenner – thanks to the acquired bonus seconds, the Italian took the lead in the ORLEN General Classification.

He defended the jersey during the individual time trial stage in Wieliczka. On the 12.5-kilometer section, Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) won, but thrilling things were happening in the fight for the victory in the ORLEN General Classification. Ultimately, Marco Brenner turned out to be the winner of the entire race, beating Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) by 10 seconds, and Ivan Romeo (Movistar Team) by 16 seconds. The reshuffles were the result of the excellent riding of the aforementioned trio on the short but intense time trial section.

In the Lang Team Points Classification, Marco Brenner also snatched victory at the very last moment. The Most Active LOTTO Rider award went to the combative Radosław Frątczak from the Polish National Team, and the PZU Best Climber jersey went to Walter Calzoni (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), who snatched it from Dries De Bondt (Team Jayco AlUla) on the “queen” stage. In the Decathlon Team Classification, the riders of Team Visma | Lease a Bike won, and the best Pole in the “general” was the talented Filip Gruszczyński. The Polish representative took 25th place.

The 83rd Tour de Pologne UCI WorldTour will be remembered as an exciting race from the start to the last meters of the “time trial.” The competition was once again very close, and the riders wrote many beautiful stories. The race would not have been so extraordinary if not for the numerous fans gathered in each of the regions the competitors rode through. Additionally, the racing could be followed via live broadcast on TVP channels, Eurosport and the HBO Max streaming platform, thanks to which the signal reached viewers from 65 countries.