Quotes after stage 5 of Tour de Pologne 2013

Remeber the new classification in the Polish race? UCI thought of making the event more attractive and created a special classification. Just to remind you - riders take points on the climbs and intermediate sprints. Points for other classifiacations are counted as they always have been. But for each of the climb and sprint top3 gets points (3-2-1). At the end of a day they sum it up and the rider with highest daily score gets 30 seconds bonus. 2nd gets 20 seconds and 3rd gets 10.

Ion Izagirre after stage 4 was 9 second down on Rafał Majka (Team Saxo-Tinkoff), the race leader. Basque rider took 3rd and 10 seconds bonus and so he is now the leader.

Majka: I lost the jersey but it doesn't change anything for me. I'm concentrated on tomorrow's stage. I've been riding in leader's jersey for 3 days, today it's a matter of 1 second. we'll see how it plays out, 1 second could be a enough but it's not much. I fought to defend the lead but Izagirre took points on the climbs and sprints and succeeded. The race is hard to control, there were moments when I really didn't have the legs to chase. But I will be fighting to win Tour de Pologne. Izagirre is not a rider that gives up, he's strong and will also be fighting for the win.

Tomasz Marczyński (Vacansoleil-DCM) became mountains classification leader after long breakaway and taking points on five climbs. He has a slim, 2 points, lead over RadioShack-Leopard's Thomas Rohregger. Marczyński won four categorized climbs yesterday and is looking forward to stage 6 with 10 first category climbs.

Tour de Pologne is the first test for 29-year-old who has just recovered after the operation he underwent in March. Tomasz is preparing for la Vuelta where he hopes to repeat his performance from 2012. 

I just wanted to try something, to attack - Marczyńki said after the stage. That's me - when I'm in a breakaway - there's always an objective, I'm not riding there for the sake of doing it. Today the goal was to take the jersey. Before the penultimate climb I didn't believe it's going to happen - the peleton brought us back and I wasn't really at the front. I managed to make one more effort and sprinted for the points. 

I've already achieved more than I wanted in  this race. My shape is getting better and better. After Tour de Pologne I'll take a couple days of rest. My next race will be Tour de l'Ain, then again some rest and easy training rides. And the Vuelta.

Marczyński finished 13th in Vuelta a Espana in 2012.

TdP 2013: Franczak fought WT riders despite early crash and swollen hands

BMC's Thor Hushovd won stage 3 of 70th Tour de Pologne, claiming his 4th victory of this season. Norwegian champion did a brilliant job, using his longtime experience and outsprinting Mark Renshaw and Steele von Hoff on the roads of Rzeszów.

It was good to see Michał Gołaś finishing 7th but when I saw the bunch taking the final corner, I already knew the rider I'll be talking to. Polish National Team is participating in the race and they have only one man who is capable of fighting in the sprint.

21-year-old Paweł Franczak finished 16th in a bunch sprint. Many people will say: "Oh, 16th, really? Nothing to talk about. "Mostly true - the place is not impresive, there aren't many top sprinters here butI think he deserves to be mentioned.

Franczak has never competed in such a race. He is currently racing for Polish Continental team Wibatech Brzeg, taking part in races on Polish roads. This year he won the last stage of Carpathian Couriers Race, finishing this international U-23 event with powerful sprint and beautiful victory in Tarnów. In June he took 4th in Polish Nationals in U-23 road race, participating in the action of the race along with Łukasz Wiśniowski.

Considering his lack of experience and  to such races, he did pretty well. His first reaction: The weather has really put us through the wringer. I was feeling good, I even managed to get involved in one of the early breakaways - together with Łukasz Bodnar we bridged to attacking riders but the peleton didn't want to let us go.

Franczak, who has never participated in such a race, at such a high level, tried to save a much energy as possible during first two stages. Mountain roads of Dolomites are not the terrain for him, as he prefers to focus on classics or hilly stages. 21-year-old spent some time in grupetto and finished the first part of the race unscratched. Polish roads and two flat stage seemed to be much more suitable for him. Unfortunately, the crash ended his plans of a good position in the final sprint. When I called him after the  stage, he was waiting for the tests results in the hospital.

I wasn't lucky - slippery roads and nervous moves in the peleton caused a crash. I went down, got a lot of bruises. My hands were in terrible condition, really. I was even thinking of abandoning the stage - it looked awful and hurt so much that I thought several fingers are broken - Franczak told me.

I really wanted to get to the finish - participating in this race is a  dream come true for many Polish riders. I managed to get to Rzeszów. The pace was very high, the rounds technical and dangerous. I tried to stay at the front and despite pain take part in the sprint.  I finished 16th. Well, truth to tell, I'm disappointed. I know I had the legs to be in top10 but after the crash I was felling really bad, as I had problems with handling my bike. 

Franczak recovered well and even took part in a breakaway on the next stage. When we talked in Nowy Targ yesterday, he seemed much more optimistic and the hand injuries turned out not to be that serious.