The Tour de Pologne teams were presented in the main square of Kielce
Tomorrow, 30 July, the 79th edition of the Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour will set off from Kielce for a 1208.8-kilometre-long journey on the roads of Poland. The 161 riders from the 23 participating teams were officially presented today in the main square of the capital city of Świętokrzyskie voivodeship
Below are some comments on the 2022 race from some of the riders attending
Elia Viviani (INEOS Grenadiers) – I am back in Poland and I am really happy to be here. It is a very nice race for the sprinters, which offers a lot of possibilities. It is also a very prestigious race to win. I’ve never managed it and I’m certainly here to take my revenge and win as many stages as possible. I am happy to start the second part of the season with the Tour de Pologne, I personally feel good and I am satisfied with the preparation in altitude I did. We are also here with a very strong team to aim for the General Classification with Richard Carapaz and Ethan Hayter. So we are more than ready for this week.
Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) – At the Tour de Pologne there are different mountains from those we are used to, they lend themselves to explosive action. No stage is to be underestimated, even the mid-mountain ones could make a difference. I think we will have a good opportunity in the time trial which we know is important and decisive. We will certainly try to aim for victory with the team that is well-matched and we will do our best of course.
Łukasz Wiśniowski (EF Education-EasyPost) – Racing in Tour of Poland is so exciting for me as a Polish rider; it’s super nice to be back here in racing mode and of course there are a few stages that I’m looking forward to – the first and second one – and we try to do the best for our sprinters.
Cesare Benedetti (BORA – hansgrohe) – My goals are the goals of the team. We’re a pretty good squad: we have goals both in GC and in stages. Sergio Higuita is our leader, and I think that this is a quite good race for him because he’s a very talented climber but he’s also pretty fast. He can actually sprint very well if a small group comes to the finish, plus he’s also good at the time trial. So this kind of competition suits him perfectly. In the team we have also Jordi Meeus and Sam Bennet to chase the sprints as well as a rider like Giovanni Aleotti for finished like in the third stage – fast but uphill and quite perfect for him
Alessandro DeMarchi (Israel – Premier Tech) – Usually I really like the old style of stages, i.e., really long. Here, the first three are really long, and I’m probably going to put the eye in one of these. I have been here many times and I know the kind of race and the country. This year maybe we’ll miss the most famous stage, but I think it’s a quite mixed route so, until the last days, the race will be open to the unexpected. There will be an opportunity till the last moment.
Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) – It’s a really big thing being here at the Tour de Pologne with the Team Uno-x. It’s a World Tour stage-race and it’s absolutely important for us to perform well here. I look forward to the week.
Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) It’s nice to be back at the Tour de Pologne wearing this charming jersey. It’s my first race back after winning the National British title. In the last week I took a little break from the bike and then started the last part of the year. It’s a hard race here, it’s a World Tour race with a lot of strong competition but there are some sprint opportunities I see, so I’ll go for them.
Patryk Stosz (Polish National Team) – I feel good. I returned from Livigno five days ago, where I was training for the Tour de Pologne. At the moment I feel in good shape, but we’ll see how it goes over the next few days.
Kamil Małecki (Lotto Soudal)– I have a lot of good memories because in 2020 I was trying to be in the GC and this year I hope to be able to do some good results. It will be difficult to aim for a good position in the rankings, but I hope to be more successful in the stages. It’s really nice to be here because I love to race in Poland with a lot of support and I will do my best to not disappoint the fans.
Arnaud Démare (Groupama – FDJ) – There are a lot of sprinters to fight against, and therefore it increases the chances to get to the sprint. It’s always a good thing when there are good competitors, the victory has a better taste. I haven’t done the Tour of Poland since 2012, so it goes back to when I was a neo-professional, and it’s true that we’re not used to racing here but it’s a tour that has evolved a lot since 2012 and it’s sure to be a race that the team can’t miss.