Tour de Pologne 2023, a historic edition to remember
The anniversary event proved to be a great spectacle, with breathtaking challenges between the big names of the UCI WorldTour. The 80th edition of the Tour de Pologne UCI WorldTour ended on Friday 4th August with a last-second battle between Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).
It was Mohorič who came out on top, it was almost like déjà vu with the positions reversed from the 2021’s edition of the Polish race. This time only one second separated the two riders, who both showed great talent and sportsmanship.
“Rafał Majka, Michał Kwiatkowski, João Almeida, Matej Mohorič, these guys were fighting against each other in the general classification. It’s never happened before.” commented Czesław Lang, Race Director at the Tour de Pologne. “We thought that the time trial would decide the final classification, but the difference between the first and second rider was so small that we had to wait for the final stage to be decided. Just like at the Champs-Élysées, the riders fought for the win in a sprint. Finally Matej Mohorič took the lead and won the ORLEN general classification. I’m very proud of all the Polish riders for all the effort and fight they put into this edition, not only Rafał Majka and Michał Kwiatkowski, but also Patryk Stosz who won the blue jersey in the LOTTO most active rider classification for the second year in a row. Also what was important for me is the fact that Olav Kooji and Marjin van den Berg proved what good riders they are. In the past, both Dutch riders had won general classification in the UCI U23 race, ORLEN Nations Grand Prix organised by us. Olav Kooji had his first win in the WorldTour here only last year and Marjin got his first WorldTour stage victory at the Tour de Pologne 2023. This race will be remembered as a beautiful event.”
This edition celebrates three important anniversaries: 95 years since the first Tour de Pologne, 80 editions and 30 years of Lang Team – an organisation that rebuilt the race and introduced it to the UCI WorldTour. All this with an unprecedented route of seven stages and more than 1100 kilometres, which was well balanced, as Matej Mohorič confirmed in the interview he gave after taking the lead in the recently completed edition.
The race was broadcasted worldwide from start to finish in more than 100 countries. Only on Poland’s TVP Sport could the audience watch the race and experts studio for more than 36 hours.
“It was an incredible race,” said Czesław Lang “If you look at the seven stages and the winners of the seven stages, you can say it was wonderful. To win the way they did today, coming in on the eve of the last stage with two riders on the same time, knowing that there were still bonifications, intermediate sprints and then the finish, is crazy. If you look at everyone who was in control of the race until the 67th kilometre, UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain Victorious, I don’t think you could have had a better scenario. I also think we had great leaders and great names here at the start of the Tour de Pologne. If you look at the podium, you can see that it had a lot of very experienced riders, but also young up and coming talent as well as those who were more experienced. It was wonderful and it fit perfectly with the vocation of the Tour de Pologne, which is to support young riders, and as an organiser, to end the week with such a result and with a winner coming out of an offensive by the teams every day is just fantastic. The race is also important for the nation, you see more and more people on the roads and that is good for the country. But you also see more and more international riders taking part, which promotes the Tour de Pologne and cycling worldwide.”
This edition saw six different winners over the seven stages, covering over 1100 kilometres on some of Poland’s most unforgiving roads. Each finish was an incredible display of exciting action, twists and turns, with an overall average speed of 42.819km/h.
Leader’s jerseys recap:
GC – leader’s jersey – (ORLEN) Matej Mohorič (Bahrain – Victorious)
KOM – mountain jersey – (PZU) Markus Hoelgaard (Lidl – Trek)
POINTS – White jersey – (ENERGA) Matej Mohorič (Bahrain – Victorious)
Most Active Rider (LOTTO) Patryk Stosz (Polish National Team)
Best Team (KGHM) UAE Team Emirates
Best Polish Rider (ENERGA) Michał Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers)
Best Young Rider (Bjorg Lambrecht Award) Oscar Onley Team (DSM-Firmenich)
Four of the seven stages – Poznań, Bielsko-Biała, Katowice and Kraków – were shared with the Tour de Pologne Junior, where riders such as Mateusz Rudyk (Team Novo Nordisk) – a World Championships medalist on the track – took the first step towards their professional careers.