Vini Fantini's problems force Polish U-23 champion to quit

I should probably write something about the Giro and Polish riders from top10 of the GC but they were both interviewed and there's not much I can add. Instead, last weekend I wrote a story on Paweł Poljański - Polish U-23 champion who signed with Vini Fantini and never appeared in yellow jersey of the Italian squad. I contacted him and prepared a short story about him and Vini Fantini. I thought that it can be published somewhere else, it didn't work, never mind. Here it is.

Vini Fantini's problems force Polish U-23 champion to quit

Paweł Poljański, Polish National U-23 champion, was forced to withhold the start of his professional career due to financial problems of Vini Fantini-Selle Italia - the team he signed with last November. 22-year-old Pole encountered major problem with registration and as a result quitted the team, having previously waited five months for registration and possibility to race as a neo-pro.

Poljański had a successful 2012 season. He won Polish National championships in U-23 category and gained attention in Italy, winning GP Ezio del Rosso-Montecatini  and taking several podium spots in other U-23 races, such as Gran Premio Valdaso a Rubbianello. He received several offers from ProContinental and ProTour teams. The choice seemed to be resonable - Vini Fantini offered him the possibility to develop as a rider in an environment he already got to know living and training in Lucca, Italy.

Entering the world of professional cycling through second division was supposed to help him acclimatize in the peleton, get used to racing on the highest level and later allow to look for his own opportunities. He signed the two-year contract in late November and started preparations for the debut as a neo-pro. The debut that never took place.

"The thing is that Vini Fantini had serious financial problems and was unable to register me. I hadn't the faintest idea that something is wrong. Everything seemed to be fine - both during negociations and inking the contact. I realized that things are not going in the right direction because they were waiting with the registration" - Poljański explained.

As a brand new neo-pro, Poljański needed to be introduced to biological passport program and his contract had to be registered by the UCI. Young rider hoped to start racing in February, trying to understand that the procedures and talks with sponsors take time and patience. But the days were passing and nothing changed.

Poljański admits that the whole situation took him completely aback. "I didn't know what to do. I thought that it's all going to clear up. That's why I waited. They told me that my registration will be completed when the talks with sponsors end" - young Pole recalls.

After four months of uncertainty and no payments received, Poljański made a decision. He wanted to withdraw his contract at the begining of April and put an end to the drama that costed him precious time, races and his dreams. This step wasn't welcomed by the team and its initial refusal only resulted in longer negociations.

At that time, the team managed to finalize the talks with sponsor - Acqua e Sapone. For the owners of the company from Abruzzo, the aim was to support Danilo di Luca in his efforts to sign a contract with Scinto's team. Moreover, in February, Farnese, team's main sponsor, sold 37% of its shares to Alessandro Benetton's investment group, giving the team the hope for the solution to its financial problems. Di Luca's bid to sign a contract and ride his national Grand Tour was strongly supported not only by Acqua e Sapone owners but by his friend and main sponsor Valantino Sciotti. Luca Scinto, however, didn't want him in the team but finally bend to the sponsors' will and agreed to include 37-year old rider. 

Di Luca waited for the registration just like Poljański. He eventually signed the contract on April 26th and was selected to ride Giro d'Italia - his last Grand Tour as it later turned out. UCI notified Italian rider on May 24th that he tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test before Giro d'Italia. Di Luca, who has previously been implicated in doping scandals and banned for performance enhancing drugs use, was fired by the team and is now facing a lifetime ban.

In April the financial assets became available and the team started thinking of registering Poljański. The Pole had a different plan and turned down the offer, demanding contract's termination at the begining of the month. The talks lasted for a couple of weeks, leading to mutual agreement in May. Poljański succeeded and left the team. "I think I have some other options. If it was the only one, I'd probably stay. But after all this, I just wanted to leave as soon as possible."

Despite such a poor start of the season, Poljański is looking forward to new challenges and tries to find positive aspects of the story. "I'm disappointed because almost the whole first part of the season is lost. I've been training a lot but I haven't raced at all. But I'm happy this is all over. I don't blame Scinto, he's a great man. The team had no money - that's not his fault."

It may be over with Vini Fantini but 22-year-old hasn't abadoned his desire to become a professional cyclist. For the next few months he'll be racing in Italy, in Acqua&Sapone Team Mocaiana. "Next year, I won't make such a mistake and I'll sign a contract with another team, perhaps from the first division" - Poljański declares confidently. And starts racing in U-23 races in Italy again - last Sunday he took 5th place in Trofeo Leoni.

Giro 2013: stage 18

The Giro is entering its crucial part as the riders are facing the fight against the clock on the slopes of Polsa. The stage could prove to be decesive - due to horrible weather conditions the final mountain stages, where the race was supposed to be decided, are about to be called off. So is the chance of gaining time on the rivals and even with the new course - the riders cannot gamble and make calculations. RCS is working on plan B - the decision will be announced today but looking at the state of affairs on the slopes of Passo Gavia, Passo dello Stelvio and even San Pellegrino, I cannot see the possibility of the race going up there.

The time trial is 20,6 km long, the average gradient is 5,2%. The stage consists of two parts - 10 kilometers climb (avg. 6.6%) and 7 km climb (also 6.6%), separated by 4 km of  "false flat" - bumpy part that seems to be an opportunity to rest for a while and catch one's breath. In fact, this part won't help riders much - not everyone likes to change the rhythm, once he finds the suitable one.

There has been so many previews (I wrote mine too, in Polish, of course) that I don't feel like writing one more. The duel between Evans and Nibali will be vital for the podium fate - Australian is 1:26 behind the "Shark" and has to gain some time if he wants to wear maglia rosa. Nibali on the other hand is riding very well, not losing time and will be very hard to beat him. Remember, he did very well during the first time trial, roaring around the 54.8 km course only 21 seconds slower than Alex Dowsett.

It would also be interesting to see how Rigoberto Uran manages - Colombian rider was flying on the first part of the first individual time trial before fading and losing 1:48 to Dowsett. His countryman Carlos Alberto Betancur is the next one to watch out for - he's currently holding maglia bianca - his aim in the race. 

Majka and Niemiec

The purpose of this blog is to write more about Polish riders so that's what I'm going to do. Three guys from Poland are participating in the race, two of them place in the top10, marking the best Grand Tour for Polish cycling since many many years. Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and Rafał Majka (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) are riding a fabulous race and are on their way to achieve the results of their careers and beat Zenon Jaskuła's record in the Italian Grand Tour (9th in 1991).

They both know how to ride such time trials. Niemiec has been racing in Italy for years and fought against the clock on the uphill. He even won a mountain time trial on the slopes of Port de Bales, back in 2006, during Route du Sud, where he eventually placed 4th. You can find some more good results from such stages in his palmares.

Niemiec is riding the race of his life so far - he climbs very well and is clearly stronger and more consistent than his team leader Michele Scarponi. He also rides better in extreme conditions - snow and 0 degrees are nothing special for him - this is the racing (or training I should say) reality in Poland till late March.

Przemek also rode one of the best time trials in his entire career. "I haven't had such a good  time trial since 2004" - 33-year-old said after the stage. "I got a green light from the team, I didn't have to save energy. Giuseppe Saronni was following me in a car and I rode 100%". Niemiec started the race as a gregario - he was supposed to help Scarponi and now is one of the leaders - sitting in the 5th place and trying to get himself a stage win.

What is Przemek capable of? Who knows? Before the stage he said that he'll go full gas again - no calculations, just giving it everything he possibly can.

Although Majka is a climber and the time trials are not really what he prefers, young Pole stays optimistic. 23-year-old planned to lauch attacks on Friday and Saturday when the long and exhausting climbs were supposed to decimate the peleton and make everyone, even GC contenders, suffer and once more realize that cycling is one of the toughest sports on the planet. The plan may fail in the wake of recent problems with the snow and more and more probable route change. The time trial? Going uphill isn't the problem for rider from Zegartowice. He lacks in experience, that's for sure, although he won the uphill prologue in 2010 during Carpathian Couriers Race.

What is important and you may have no idea about - Majka is not fighting for the white jersey. He concentrates on the general classification and would like to win the stage. As I mentioned, the task may be harder than expected due to the route changes.

The time trial starts now, time to work.

Ladies on the podium

It's been a good weekend for Polish cycling in general. There is a lot to write, mostly about the Giro but there have also been some good performances from women (MTB and road) and men U-23. So just to sum up - because most of the results are well known. Ladies first:

MTB

It's not really my thing, MTB, but I always turn streams on when Maja is riding. She never gives up, fights till the end and smiles even when something goes wrong. It's Włoszczowska's first World Cup start - for the last 9 months she's been struggling with an injury. She overcame it and is now back, racing and showing that she's still one of the best MTB riders in the world.

On Sunday Maja took 2nd place in first race of cross country World Cup in Albstadt, Germany. The race really kicked off on the last 2-3 laps, when a group of five women managed to estabilish a gap. It started to rain, making the course harder. Last descent proved to be the key to success - Eva Lechner took the best position and earned a handful of seconds on Włoszczowska and Leumann. The finish line was not that far away and she managed to take the win, marking a great start of cross country World Cup.

Maja started the race from a distant place and had to make her way through the group for the whole first lap. "It cost me a lot of energy. When I get to the leading group, I tried to rest and save the energy for the last lap but it was not enough" - she explained on her website.

Road

Katarzyna Pawłowska (GSD Gestion - Kallisto) took 3rd place in GP Gatineau on the first day of racing in Canada. Kasia has been riding very consistently since the begining of the season and taking podium places in many races, mostly classics. Two starts in Canada were preceded by three-week break from racing, taken after Tour of Luxembourg, where she place 4th, only 17 seconds behind Marianne Vos.

You can see her results here. 

Tour de Pologne 2013 and Race Appeal project

This year's Tour de Pologne is going to be special. And it's not only about the 70th edition - for the first time the event starts so far from its home ground - in Trentino, Italy. Two hard mountain stages are going to sort the general classification before the action comes back to Polish roads. But that's not the end of suprises. The UCI also contributes to the organization, changing the number of riders and estabilishing a new classification that can potentially influence the final standings.

First of all - teams. Each squad is allowed to bring 6 riders, not 8. This change is supposed to: highlight the excitement and attractiveness of each day of racing. This is an experiment - we'll see how it works out. But given the conditions, it may be a good idea. The mountain roads in Poland are narrow and cause problems for bigger groups of riders. On the other hand, the average gradient is high and some steep (but not really long) slopes take its toll, breaking the bunch and making the riders struggle alone or in smaller groups.

That's just the begining. From the official race website:

The project introduces a new system of bonus points for riders who win a series of contests organised during each day of racing. These may include intermediate sprints, and mountain pass or hill contests. At the end of each stage a general “Race Appeal” classification will be established by adding up the points awarded. The top riders of this classification will obtain time bonuses on the event’s general classification.

There is no information about the bonuses and their number per stage but believe me - it's not going to be one or two. I don't know if there will be bonus seconds for the top3 on each stage but my guess is: yes, there will. All that is going to make the race harder to control and with 6 riders per team we should see less crashes and more fighting and unexpected situations.

The 70th TdP starts on July 27th and finishes on August 3rd, so it's 8 days long. The route itself seems to be quite demanding - first two stages finish in Dolomites - on Madonna di Campiglio and Passo Pordoi. Then there is a rest day - transfer to Poland. Next to stages - to Rzeszów and to Katowice should be an opportunity for a bunch sprint (however stage 3 can be tricky and losing time can be a matter of temporary carelessness). Stage 5 features some of the well known climbs, for instance - Głodówka (which can be translated as "the hill of the hunger") . Stage 6 - well, last year we had almost the same thing here. I remember Alex Dowsett's tweet before the race: "Mum described the elevation profile as looking like a set of jagged teeth". Indeed, the profile looks just like a comb but the funny thing is that one of the hills is called "Ząb" - in English "tooth"... Anyway, there's an uphill finish so we'll see the riders fighting for the GC once again.

Last stage is a 37-km time trial. The route is undulating, technically demanding in the first part and finishes on the cobbles of the beautiful main square of Kraków. If you haven't been there - it's really worth coming. Kraków is a pearl of Poland - the heart of its medieval statehood. You can feel and touch history on every corner. The main sights are of course: Royal Castle Wawel and the market square of the Old Town (the biggest main square in Europe in Middle Ages) with St. Mary's Basilica (details here) and Drapers' Hall.

You  can see the official promo of the race here:

The video itself is better than the ones we saw for the last couple of years but it's also a compilation of the scenes from last couple of editions (used every in almost every promo, each year), so nihil novi, as we say in Poland. But it's nice that it's been made - broadcasting it in Eurosport during Giro d'Italia is a good idea and as far as I know, there will be one more promo - for the Tour de France time.

Rafał Majka and the Giro

Rafał Majka seems to be one of the biggest revelations of this year's Giro d'Italia. Polish rider was chosen to lead Bjarne Riis' Team Saxo-Tinkoff despite early season troubles with the knee and is now showing that the Dane's decision was right. Despite his young age, he proves that he's capable of leading the squad and fighting with the best riders in the world.

Majka has already showed his abilities during 2012 Vuelta a Espana where he worked for his team leader Alberto Contador. In fact, he'd been scheduled to ride Giro d'Italia 2012 and lead the team but the same knee injury excluded him from racing for a couple of months. 

This year's e return was not so certain and simple as it may seem. Majka started racing in Catalunya - after a month of dealing with knee injury that renewed on February. He resumed trainings on March 10th, rode Catalunya and trained on the altitude for the first two weeks of April. The last check before Giro was Tour de Romandie where he went to train and get used to racing rhythm. He didn't finish the event as during stage 4 he decided to stop due to bad weather conditions.

Heading to Naples for the start of the Giro, he only had 12 racing days in his legs. Majka declared that a couple of days, perhaps a week, will be needed to let him get into the best shape. He is now back in action and is performing well, giving Riis reasons to fell that sigining him for the next three years after last year's Vuelta was a smart and well-considered idea.

It has been a good week for Majka so far. Young Pole stayed away from troubles on tricky descents and wet corners, following the GC contenders easily on every ascent - in sunshine and in the rain. The problems emerged however on the descents - rider from Zegartowice isn't taking much risk and chooses not to follow over certain speed. That costed him 34 seconds on a crazy stage to Marina di Ascea.

First week was really nervous. I had to be at the front all the time because things were changing very quickly - Majka told rowery.org during the first rest day. - There were a lot of crashes, the weather was simply awful. All that makes me a little tired after the first week.

23-year-old rider marks his debut as a team leader in a Grand Tour with Team Saxo-Tinkoff. It's been only a week and young rider managed to repeat the achievement of Joachim Halupczok - the first Polish rider to wear maglia bianca (1990). Today, after the first real mountain stage, is showing his potential, finishing 6th on the final climb of the day and climbing to 10th place in the general classification. - I'm happy to wear the white jersey. I think I can take it again later in the race - Majka declared yesterday. Today he's smiling on the podium and wearing best young rider jersey.

Majka is also happy to have the time trial behind him. 54.8 km technical route never seemed to suit him and his time trialling skills. As a pure climber, Majka admits that the fight against the clock is not really his thing. That changes, however. 
 
- I've never ridden such a long time trial. It was really exhausting - especially last 15 km where I had to push really hard. It wasn't a bad performance, I'm satisfied with it. I lost a little time in the first technical part and on the descent but considering the length of the course - the result seems to be good. 

Majka finished 31th, losing 3:27 to victorious Alex Dowsett of Movistar. This only indicates the progress he has made - a year ago such a result wouldn't be possible. Before today's stage Rafał was sitting 16th overall and looking forward to improving his situation. When I asked him what are his expectations and what is he planning to do, he replied:

- I don't know, honestly. It's been a good race for me so far, I can fight for the general classification. I've nevr done such a big race riding for myself, so I have no idea how my body will react to such an effort. But it's going to be ok, my shape is getting better and better. 

Today "Rafa" is 10th in the GC and is looking forward to next tough stages. Saxo-Tinkoff's DS Dan Frost says that the time for Rafał comes in the third week, when the real mountains start and where every rider will struggle to survive. But this is Giro, you can never tell what happens next. Time will tell.

Giro d'Italia 2013: Majka, Niemiec and Gołaś

The first week of the Giro is over, the first rest day is about to start this evening, so I thought it's a good idea to write something. I have to admit - I don't have much time - writing about cycling in Polish and all standard duties make it impossible to find time and write down some notes. 

May started great - I've been to Slovakia, enjoing Carpathian Couriers Race, where I worked as "twitter man" or..eee, whatever - I was doing live race ticker on Twitter,  wrote a couple race reports in English (you can find them here: http://carpathianrace.eu/?cat=2), made a few interviews and had a really good time. 

Ok, back to Giro.  First of all - it was great to watch Adam Hansen win the stage 7. I've always liked the guy - sense of humor, hard work and skills in many fields. That was absolutely amazing, I really enjoyed it.

I'm also so happy about Dowsett's victory. I've been watching him since he turned pro - yesterday he rode the time trial of his life - beat everyone on a difficult and demanding route, with technical start and steep finish. Winning a stage in your Grand Tour debut must be something breathtaking and hard to describe, it's defenitely a big step in his career. I remember that it was a suprise for me when he announced that Eusebio Unzue will be his manager next year but now it seems that Alex has found his place in the team. There has been a grin on my face when I realized that Alex is going to claim it - a year ago we talked on Twitter and I decided to introduce him to Polish Wikipedia. I wrote an article and today I'm happy that collegues from the project can add such an important win to his palamres.

We have three Polish guys riding this Grand Tour. They are all doing really well, I'll be probably talking to them during the rest day, so I'll have much more to report then.

Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) is riding the Grand Tour of his life so far. His main objective is to help Michele Scarponi. They both put a tremendous effort into yesterday's time trial - Scarponi followed the Colombians who were absolutely flying, while Niemiec placed 16th, losing only 2:13. 

You have to remeber that Niemiec is a pure climber, time trialling is not really his thing. He's been working on it this year like the whole team, though. Testing new equipement and working on his position pays off - he's now 9th in the GC. Before the time trial it was not so sure, however. Niemiec said that the DS will decide if he can go full gas or save the energy. Przemek did well - it's a good sign - Lampre has two strong riders who are going to support each other and fight for this. Ah, I don't expect him to do anything today but Niemiec knows Fiesole climb and the region inside out as he's been living there for years.

Michał Gołaś (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is easy to be spotted in the peleton. Michał wears Polish national champion jersey (which at some point can be confused with Pellizotti's) and is visible even from helicopter camera. 

Gołaś is in a good shape, no doubt about it. He's improved his climbing a little and his main objective in this race is to win a stage. He tried in Matera (11th place) where he avoided the crash and managed to get himself into the first group, alongside with his teammate Matteo Trentin. Guys got a little confused - Gołaś wanted to help Trentin and Trentin wanted to lead-out Gołaś and as a result John Degenkolb claimed the victory. 

Before the time trial Michał declared that he has to lose some time to be later allowed to attack and look for the opportunity to win a stage. Today seems like a good choice but it's hard to predict anything - it's Giro.

Rafał Majka (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) - no problems uphill, slight trouble downhill. Rafał is riding very carefully, not losing time and waiting for the big, sorry, I should say BIG, mountains. He claimed maglia bianca on a rainy stage to Pescara but (as predicted) was not able to defend it in the time trial. 

Majka is the first Polish rider to wear white jersey in the Giro since Joachim Halupczok in 1990 (he took it after the time trial but abandoned a couple days later). Rafał isn't such a good time trialist as Halupczok was but we believe that he's got the power to blow the peleton in the mountains. Maglia bianca and any other possible successes are treated as bonuses - Polish rider focuses on the GC and wants to be as high as possible. Yesterday's time trial was the longest fight agianst the clock in his entire life. "I've never ridden such a long time trial" - Majka admitted before going off the ramp. He lost only 3:27 and is now 17th, 4 minutes down. But the stages he'd like to avoid are now behind him and Rafał is thinking of the 3rd week. 

Tomorrow perhaps something about Giro in general. 


P.S. Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura) starts Tour de California today. He'll be helping Jan Barta and Leo Koenig. His next races are Criterium du Dauphine, Polish national road championships (in his home town) and then - Vuelta a Espana.