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.