Short note: women's races

I have never written much about women cycling but yesterday I thought it is a good idea, especially after some good results achieved by ladies from Poland. It's kind of late, I still have some errands to run but I'd like to post a short note about three women whose results catched my eyes in the last weeks.

I'm going to start with Maja Włoszczowska (Giant Pro XC Team). 2008 Olympic MTB silver medalist has been through a hard time for the last 9 months - three weeks before Olmpic Games in London Maja had a terrible accident - she fell during the training ride and injured her leg seriously, breaking two bones and ending up in a hospital with her foot bent unnaturally.

Today, after months of recovery and painful rehabilitation she is back on her bike - racing and winning races. This only shows how determined she is and how much work she put in coming back. Maja started racing in a minor event in Jerez de la Frontera (I've always associated it with a medieval battle - in 711 Tarik ibn Ziyad defeated Vandals and started the Muslim conquest of Spain) - not telling anyone in order to avoid putting any pressure on herself and making a suprise for her dedicated fans. It worked out just fine - Polish MTB champion finished 1st and officially announced her comeback. She has recently participated in two Bundesliga MTB races, wining them and confirming that, despite suffering and lack of racing rhythm, she'll be fighting and trying to be back on her best level. Next goal: Ötztaler Mountainbike Festival - tomorrow! Fingers crossed:)

April has been also very good for Katarzyna Pawłowska (GSD Gestion - Kallisto), who took several top places in a couple of important races. Remember, Kasia is a two time reigning world champion in women's scratch (2012, 2013). She has recently showed some strong performances while racing on the road - something that in my opinion is worth mentioning.

April started with 5th place in Grand Prix de Dottignies. Two weeks later Kasia also took 5th place - this time in Ronde van Gelderland. 23-year-old then participated in Fleche Wallonne Féminine, placing 11th. "It was a hard race. Mur de Huy... riding it really hurts" - Pawłowska wrote on her Facebook fan page. " I'm happy, 11th place is not bad... maybe next time I will be in top ten".

Pawłowska has recently finished Dwars door de Westhoek 2013 - taking 5th place for the third time. Her next start will be Tour of Luxembourg, starting next Friday.

Last two days were successful for Paulina Brzeźna-Bentkowska (TKK Pacific Toruń). She won stage 3 of Gracia Orlova (2.2), outsprinting Ellen van Dijk and Fabiane Luperni. Today she took 3rd place and finnished 11th overall in this beautiful Czech race.

Tomorrow I will write something about Rafał Majka - his DNF in Romandie and plans for Giro d'Italia. In case you missed - just like I said some time ago, Rafał will lead Team Saxo-Tinkoff in the race for maglia rosa.

Health problems in Turkey, easy ride in Romandie

Sometimes things are just not going the right way. Seems to be true about two Polish riders who have just left Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey - Michał Gołaś (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural). But this is sport, this is cycling, health problems happen.

Before going to Turkey, Gołaś was careful in declaring his goals. Polish national champion wasn't feeling very well but hoped to recover fast and look for an opportunity for himself - fight for a stage and perhaps repeat last year's performance, when he placed 8th in the general classification. Unfortunately his problems forced him to change plans, turning out to be a virus infection. Despite these discouraging circumstances, Gołaś did very well in stage 4, placing 5th, just behind such riders as Andre Greipel and Filippo Pozzato.

Having left the race, Michał is now concentrating on naxt races in May, where he hopes to be in top shape.

Domagalski also withdrew from the race. He was struggling with a pain in the knee, that turned out to be an inflammation of a tendon, caused by crashes during muddy and rainy Tro-Bro Leon. Karol is now taking some rest before leaving for Glava Tour of Norway.

Meanwhile in Switzerland, two other riders from Poland are showing some calm but strong riding, not losing time to the main contendes of the race. Both climbers - Sylwester Szmyd and Rafał Majka are eying stage four on Saturday, with Col de la Croix climbed twice in the final part of the day. After today's stage Rafał said that he's feeling well and has no problems following GC guys on the ascents. The real test will be on Saturday - young Polish rider may just want to see how his legs are responding and check them on the climb. And the Giro is coming.

Ah, those of you who follow me on Twitter know that already but I'd like to remind you - the biggest U-23 race in Central Europe - Carpathain Couriers Race starts in a few days - May 1. This year I'll be there - doing some live tweeting and some writing stuff. For all informations, photos and stuff follow @CarpathianRace or visit http://carpathianrace.eu/

Polish riders: Current situation

This is my first real entry so it's going to be a little long. There are a lot of Polish riders in pro peleton, so I just want to give you a short insight into their plans and current situation. This way it will be much easier for you to follow the updates in the following months. As I said, there a lot of things I work on, so no time to lose, here we go.

I'd like to start with Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre-Merida). He's doing really well this year - 9th in Tirreno-Adriatico (with 8th place on the stage to Chieti), 7th in Volta a Catalunya (8th place on Vallter 2000) and now 6th in Giro del Trentino, after a tremendous amount of work during the last stage and Sega di Ala climb. Remember, he is riding for a WT team for a second year only.

Niemiec doesn't fancy changes of rhythm, prefers riding his own tempo - just like he did in Vuelta a Espana 2012 (15th place). He likes Trentino - in 2009, riding for Miche, he placed 3rd and won a stage. When we exchanged messages yesterday, after the race, he was satisfied with his performance:

"The last stage was really good for me, the whole team supported me and I think I did very well. The final climb was really hard. I've been just keeping my own rhythm and trying not to lose too much time. 3rd place during such a tough stage, with so many good riders here, I think it's a very good result."

33-year-old had been training on the slopes of Etna earlier this month and made it clear that participation in Giro del Trentino will be a final test for him before Giro d'Italia, where his objective is to help Michele Scarponi and (perhaps) look for opportunities for himself.

I also asked him about Wiggins, as he as riding along him for some time in the final of stage 4. "Wiggins was unlucky, had problems with his chain but is in a good shape and will be very strong during Giro." And Scarponi? "Michele wasn't pushing hard on the last stage because he wants to make a good result in Liege-Bastogne-Liege".

Bartosz Huzarski

Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura) is currently trying to find the right gear for this season. The spring wasn't successful but during Trentino there have been signs that indicate that it's all going in a good direction. He is satisfied with the result in the TTT - claims that they did very very well (4th place). He has also been a part of a breakaway during stage 4 and was the last man standing, being caught at the very begining of Sega di Ala. He now concentrates on the upcoming races - Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt and Tour of California.

Sylwester Szmyd

Polish most experienced rider Sylwester Szmyd (Movistar) is preparing for Tour de France. Polish climber hasn't had a great season so far and earlier this year admitted that not everything is going as planned. Being an experienced rider, he also said that "the form is like good wine - it requires time, has to ripen". But after Vuelta a Castilla y Leon (when Movistar's Ruben Plaza managed to secure the 1st place in the GC) Szmyd looked a little more satisfied and is now expecting to do better in Tour de Romandie.

"Valverde is riding... but we won't be interrupting each other" - Szmyd wrote on his website recently.

Rafał Majka

Tour de Romandie will be the 2nd start for Rafał Majka (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) this year. 23-year-old Polish climber stuggled with knee problems at the begining of the season (the same injury unabled him to start Giro d'Italia last year) and competed only in Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Fortunately, everything seems to be ok now, the problem is over and Rafał resumed trainings some time ago. He spent 17 days on the altitude, training near Mount Etna, Sicily. He's riding Romandie and Giro - first one to do some training and catch some racing rhythm. Giro d'Italia? Who knows? Rafał says that his legs will be doing best after the first week  - when he gets used to racing intensity. Let's hope so - there is no clear leader in Saxo-Tinkoff team and if you followed Vuelta 2012 closely, you may have the idea how strong Rafał can be.

(Not sure you heard it, the story is a little old but when Majka signed his 1st contract with Saxo-Tinkoff, the rumours were saying that he impressed Riis with his ride during winter camp. What exactly happened? I don't know, rumours say that Alberto Contador was unable to drop him on a climb. The other version: Majka dropped Contador on a climb).

Karol Domagalski

Domagalski (Caja Rural) is a tall, humble and nice guy from Skała (near Kraków), who is riding for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA for the second year. He's still learning and gaining experience - not only by attacking and trying to get to the finish before the bunch, helping his teammates on the finish but also by making mistakes and facing the lack of luck. What is important, he's made a progress, rides better than last year and still wants to improve.

His next race is Tour of Turkey and I'm sure he'll be riding with panache, trying to get himself a stage win. So, if there is a breakaway on the road,  he's likely to be there. Good luck, wining as stage as a pro will surely be good for him and his future development.

Finally, there has been a lot of writing about Michał Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) recently, so I'm not going to quote his team's website or translate my articles on him. He's been very consistent for the last couple of weeks, he is looking forward to riding Liege-Bastogne-Liege and wants to do his best there.

Perhaps you've heard that but when I talked to him before Fleche Wallonne, he said that Liege is more important, the final is more suited for him. He also stated that he'll ride Waalse Pilj as a preparation and will see about his disposition during the race. Apparently he had the legs - 5th place speaks for itself. So I just hope he stays cool and will be looking for an opportunity on Sunday.

Getting started

Ok, here I am. This is my first post. Seriously, I have never blogged before. I'm not sure if this is going to work but I decided to give it a try anyway. This is my first post so I'll try to tell you what's the general idea of this blog.

I've been writing about cycling, covering races in my mother tongue - Polish. For the last 12 months I've been contributing to Rowery.org - the oldest cycling website in Poland (founded in 1997). The project is totally non-profit (since its begining), nevertheless we spend a lot of time working on it and providing Polish cycling fans with the latest and (I hope) most accurate information from the world of cycling.

I have always enjoyed writing and learning foreign languages. So that was kind of the begining. Some time ago I joined Twitter community and found it amazing - being able to exchange latest news and opinions with so many amazing and interesting people from around the globe.

So, the idea of the blog is to post short (or long) pieces on current events within the "world of two wheels". Truth to tell, I just want to practise writing in English - you never know - perhaps in the future this experience proves useful.

As I said, I don't know if it's going to work. I'd like to post stories or opinions regularly but I realize that it won't be always possible - there are many things I work on and my schedule is usually a real mess.

Finally, what will you find here? Latest news from Polish riders - yes. It doesn't take long to write something about their plans or quote them in 140 characters, so I presume it won't be that hard in a few sentences here. Race previews? Descriptions of the events' routes? Perhaps, time will tell.

And yes, if I write something, I'll tweet it.