“COUNTDOWN” TO THE TOUR DE POLOGNE: ONE MONTH LEFT UNTIL THE START…

First team confirmations: Fabio Aru, Simon Yates, Matteo Trentin, Dylan Teuns and Moreno Moser.

The Grand Depart for the Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour will hit the scene in Krakow exactly one month from today. The race that takes off from Krakow on Saturday, August 4th, will be the 75th edition of this Polish stage race. In 2018 the Tour de Pologne will celebrate 90 years of tradition, and the race will play a major part in festivities marking the Centennial of Polish Independence.
For such a compelling edition, there promises to be an elite starting field. There will be 22 teams of 7 riders each on the starting grid: 18 World Tour formations and 4 wild card teams, for a total of 154 riders.

With exactly one month to go to the start, teams are beginning to send their confirmations and there have been the first indications about who will be the Top Riders in the pack at the Tour de Pologne. At the moment, the names Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) feature among the headliners.

Regarding the Sardinian rider from UAE Team Emirates, we’re hoping to see Aru shine as a contender on the roads of Poland as he vies to make up for the setbacks he suffered in the Giro d’Italia. He is eager to make a new start and go for a strong season finale, which will include the Vuelta and World Championships. The uphill stages with climbs on the Tatra Mountains could provide an appealing challenge to the skills of the “Cavaliere dei Quattro Mori”.

The Tour de Pologne will also be an important test for Simon Yates, the British rider from Mitchelton-Scott who dominated the Giro d’Italia all the way to the major stage on the Colle delle Fiestre, where he was forced to cede the maglia rosa to Chris Froome. After all, with what we saw from Simon Yates in the Corsa Rosa, he has proven himself as a rider who can compete for victory in a grand tour, so the Tour de Pologne also expects that he will stand out as a possible contender.

Next to Yates, Mitchelton-Scott will line up another important athlete, Matteo Trentin. He’s just returned to competition for the Adriatica Ionica Race, after taking a long break to recover from his terrible accident in the Paris-Roubaix. On the roads of Poland, the rider from Trentino will get the chance to bounce back from a season that has been quite unfortunate so far. For him Poland will also serve as an essential step towards the European Championships set to be held on Sunday, August 12th, in Glasgow, Scotland, where CT Davide Cassani has confirmed Trentin will be riding with the Italian National team.

Keep an especially close eye on the rider wearing race number 1, because in 2018 the winner of the last edition of the Tour de Pologne, Dylan Teuns will be welcomed back to the pack. Last year the Belgian rider from BMC Racing Team scored his first World Tour victory in Poland, as he rode a remarkable wave of successes between July and August in the Tour de Wallonie, the Tour de Pologne and the Artic Race; impressive results in these events helped launch him into the big leagues of major international cycling.

Another excellent name that stands out among those who have confirmed their attendance is Moreno Moser. This year the rider from Trentino of Astana Pro Team won the Trofeo Laiguelia for the second time in his career…the first time was in the 2012 season, the year in which he also scored his victory in the Tour de Pologne. Beyond the numbers and the coincidences, the Tour de Pologne really means a lot to Moreno Moser, since this was the race where he really came into his own during his first year as a pro. He participated 5 times between 2012 and 2017.

“We are very pleased because, between great champions, winners of past editions and new names, a first class starting field is beginning to take shape. In the following days these names will be joined by others. Furthermore, after the Tour de France there will definitely be some important riders who may decide to come to Poland in order to make the most of the top form they will achieve during the three weeks in France. Our hope as always is to witness a thrilling, spectacular race that will be hard-fought all the way to the end. By now it has become a tradition for the Tour de Pologne; in addition to seeing great champions in action, our roads always provide a stage for new talent that is destined to go far,” explains General Director for the Tour de Pologne, Czeslaw Lang.