Two podium spots for Haba and Kasperkiewicz in one week

I thought it's a good idea to write something about two Polish U-23 riders, currently racing in the Netherlands. I mentioned them before in my summary of Polish Nationals but today's entry is only about them. I know, it's Tour de Pologne time and not many people are interested in small U-23 races but in my opinion it's worth writing about them, even in a diary form - talented riders don't come out of nowhere and some time ago there was hardly any young Polish rider racing in Europe. These days we watch Majka and Kwiatkowski scoring great results and building their position in pro peleton - perhaps in a couple of years more Polish riders succeed and will be able to spread their wings on the rough seas of professional cycling.

So today - two races and two stories - two WV De Jonge Renner riders - Przemysław Kaperkiewicz and Grzegorz Haba.

Sunday, July 21st

Grzegorz Haba finished 3rd in Kerniel Classic - Belgian one-day race. 21-year-old Polish rider survived the heat and twenty 5.3km rounds, participating in the crucial move and taking podium spot after the finish from a small breakaway.

Timothy Stevens (Team 3M) claimed victory and Sam Lennertz (United Cycling Team) sprinted to 2nd.

photo credit: Otwarte Drzwi/WV de Jonge Renner

I was feeling very good. 8 round before the finish line a small group formed and I was lucky to be there. We worked really well but 2 laps before the end the attacks started. I thought: "it's now or never, if I miss it, I may lose the sprint". When the attacks started again on the climb, I waited and launched my counter attack just before the summit - Haba described after the finish.

 
Haba was glad to race on such demanding and hilly route (2 hills, one about 500 m long and the other twice as long). The last lap was only 3.7 km long and the ultimate obstacle was the shorter climb. Only two guys managed to stay on my wheel, we broke clear and made it to the line. I was working very hard for the whole race, so I lacked in energy in the sprint and only took 3rd place. But I'm really happy with that, my legs were responding well and I deserved to be on the podium for the whole effort - he said with a smile.

Sunday, July 28th

Przemysław Kasperkiewicz won Ronde van Ransdaal, small race or criterium in Ransdaal. The event consisted of forty 2.3km laps and undulating terrain made it a selective and tough race for U-23 riders. Polish U-23 time trial silver medalist was active since the begining of the race, riding in the front group and launching an attack in the last 10 km. He then managed to win two-men sprint for the line, beating Bram Nolton (Craford Cycling Team). Sjors Roosen (Cycling Team Jo Piels) finished 3rd.  

photo credit: Otwarte Drzwi/WV de Jonge Renner 

We broke away after 5 rounds and there were 6 of us at the front. I thought it's a good situation - we were working together well and the whole action had the chance of succeeding - Kasperkiewicz told me after the race. 10 laps before the line we had 1:10 on the next group. I knew I have to attack earlier, and I did - 4 laps before the line. There was only one rider on my wheel in the final. Last corner was tricky - I needed to take it well and be in the first position to win.

Kasperkiewicz is slowly thinking about Florence and U-23 time trial. This win shows that I'm in good shape but it's far from my best. I'm training and preparing for the World Championships in Florence. I hope to be selected for the national team and represent Poland in Italy - 19-year-old declared.

Kasperkiewicz and Haba will be racing in Poland in mid-August - their team is set to participate in two classics - Memoriał Henryka Łasaka (10.08) and Puchar Uzdrowisk Karpackich (11.08).

Tour de Pologne 2013: stage 1 preview

Tour de Pologne or Tour of Poland starts today and it's time to upload some more info about the stages. I decided not to write the whole preview (I already did in Polish) but to post basic information about every stage plus some interesting stories about places the race visits. I will be reporting some of the stages on site, so I'll try to do kind of a coverage - quotes and stuff like that. 

As I'm sure you already know, 2013 Tour of Poland is not exactly the race you'd expect it to be. It's 70th edition but the thing is that it starts in Trentino, Italy. Peculiar for a one-week race to start so far away from place of its destination, isn't it?  

Why Italy? Many reasons are given - longtime historical and cultural connection between both countries and desire to organize real mountain stages are the most obvious. Race director - Czesław Lang grew up as a cyclist in Italy and has always dreamt of visiting the country with his national race. Trentino region also benefits from the organization.

Many of you may not know that but by "longtime historical and cultural connections" date back to late 18th century, when, after the Third Partition in 1795, Poland stopped exiting as a country and disappeared from maps for 123 years. In the wake of Napoleonic era, many people, including soldiers, emigrated to France, Belgium and Italy. In Italy Polish army was formed and so called "Polish legions" fought on Bonaparte's side, hoping that when Austria, Prussia and Rusia lose the war, Poland will be rebuilt. Polish national anthem was composed in Italy and there are several references to this moment in the lines of Dąbrowki's Mazurka. The line "from the Italian land to Poland" is used by the organizers as race motto.

There's also one more connection between two countries - pope John Paul II who lived in Italy for many years and contributed to the growth of interactions between both nations.

Winning a mountain stage today, at the very begining of the race, is cool, there are a lot of riders in the peleton who would like to do so. But remember, teams only have six riders, so, in my opinion, if somebody is thinking about standing on the podium in Kraków, he won't be really eager to take the jersey on today's stage. Leading the race means responsibility and puts rider (and his team) in the position where they have to chase the break down and control the race - the task that is not so easy when you have 6 riders and tough mountain stage ahead.

The Route

Stage 1 starts from Rovereto and it's not a typical stage of Tour de Pologne we used to see in recent years. In fact, it looks more like a stage of Giro d'Italia or Giro del Trentino and whether you like it or not, it's going to be a challenging day, one of the key points of the race in the fight for the general classification.

The first climb of the day - Fai della Paganella (10,8 km; 7%) - emerges after almost 50km section. The profile shows only three categorized climbs but when you look at the second part of the stage, you'll see Passo del Ballino - uncategorized ascent, also around 10km long, leading to the 2nd category climb of Passo Durone (5 km; 6.1%). The ultimate challenge is a well known climb of Madonna di Campiglio (8,5 km; 6.7%, max. 10%), where riders will battle for the stage win.

There are three intermediate sprints and one "special sprint" on today's stage - the first one is on a flat section before Fai della Paganella, the second one is on the descent and the last one will be contested at the foot of the last climb. 

Main contenders

With new race rules and six riders per squad it's extremly hard to pick today's winner. The difficulty of the stage and mountain finish should be suitable for climbers and all-rounders. Vincenzo Nibali could be in the mix, as he has the chance to fight in front of his fans from Italy. Colombians - Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao cannot be underestimated when it comes to mountain finishes. Depending on their legs and state of preparations to the main goals of the second part of the season, we may witness another Colomian charge on the slopes of Italian climbs.

When it comes to picking a winner, I wouldn't rule out Simon Spilak and Darwin Atapuma, my today's favourite, however, comes from Switzerland and has recently won two stages of Tour of Austria.

There are also Polish riders who climb well and I won't be suprised if one of them gives it a go today. Rafał Majka seems to be in pretty good shape - he's preparing for the Vuelta but promised to fight. Movistar's Sylweter Szmyd wasn't selected for the Tour de France squad and now wouldn't mind trying some kind of solo action on the last climb.

The stage starts pretty late - 1:30pm and the riders are expected to cross the finish line between 6:21 and 6:45pm. Such late hours are nothing new - I presume that it's all because of the number of people watching - 7:30pm is an hour of daily news program in TVP (Poland's main public broadcasting corporation) that is also responsible for the coverage of the race.

European Road Championships: Kasia Niewiadoma 5th in women U-23 road race

Olomunec, Czech Republic, July 21 - Katarzyna Niewiadoma finished 5th in women U-23 road race during European Road Championships in Olomunec. Polish U-23 champion managed to stay in the small group of riders who survived the early selection and score her first very good result at international level.

Susanna Zorzi of Italy claimed victory, finishing her team's job by launching an attack on the final climb and winning gold medal after solo action. Her team mate - Franceca Cauz took silver, coming to the line a handful of second later.

Niewiadoma, who currently rides for TKK Pacific Toruń (the same club where Michał Kwiatkowski started his carrer), managed to stay in the head of the bunch and take 5th place in the sprint from the first group that reached the line over a minute after Italian duo.

The 126-km route consited of 11 laps, with a 1km climb in the final. 94 U-23 women signed the startlist, 7 Polish National Team members included.

The begining of the race was calm, the very first attacks started on the climbs. I didn't have any problems, everything was under control. I even managed to break away with one of the Italian riders but it only lasted a while - Niewiadoma described the early laps.

After sereval laps, a lot of riders were dropped and there were only about 20 of us at the front. Last rounds were nervous - attacks all the time, launched especially by Italian team. The last climb was crucial - the group got shattered very quickly. I tried to stay with the leading competitors but I didn't have the legs to make it to the podium - Polish double U-23 champion said.

Niewiadoma's 5th place turned out to be Polish highet score during the Championhips. What is worth mentioning - this is her first year as U-23 and so she was obviously the youngest in top5. I'm really happy about my performance because I know I did everything I possibly could - Niewiadoma summed up. Taking 5th place in my first year as U-23 satisfies me. I'm very grateful to Paulina Brzeźna-Bentkowska and her husband Paweł for helping me and preparing me for this race.

Niewiadoma was on my lit of "names to remeber" after this year's Polish Nationals. She would probably ride the Worlds in September, so watch out for her.

Tour de Pologne 2013: new classification and its impact on GC explained

70th edition of Tour de Pologne starts this week, so it's time to look at the changes the UCI and organizers made. When the changes were announced, I wrote a small piece about them (you can find it here) but today we know all the details and, suprisingly, there is a road book in English available.

I honestly thought I'll have to put it all together by myself and that it's going to take ages but since we got the rules in English, there's no need to do that. Here we go:

Time bonuses at the finish line:

1st place - 10 sec
2nd place - 6 sec
3rd place - 4 sec

Intermediate sprint: 3-2-1

There are three intermediate sprints on stages 1, 2 and 4; two on stage 3 and one intermediate sprint on stages 5 and 6. Stage 7 is a time trial so obviously no intermediate sprints.

There is one additional classification that has something to do with intermediate sprints and categorized mountain passes. It's called "attractivity contest classification". No idea where the name comes from but anyway, this can change the way the race plays out and may suprise some of the fans.

So, it's time to quote. The rules state:

At each stage to the first three riders of “attractivity contest classification” will be awarded time bonuses: 30 sec., 20 sec. and 10 sec. respectively (point 11.1.5).

11.1.5. “ATTRACTIVITY CONTEST CLASSIFICATION”

11.1.5.1. Riders gain points to daily “Attractivity Contest Classification” ranking on each of the primes during the stage (intermediate sprints, mountain passes, hill contests)

11.1.5.2 Agreement to restrict time bonuses to top 3 in daily “Attractivity Contest Classification” ranking:

• 1st in daily Race Appeal ranking: 30 seconds time bonus on individual general classification 
• 2nd in daily “Attractivity Contest Classification” ranking: 20 seconds time bonus on individual general classification 
• 3rd in daily “Attractivity Contest Classification” ranking: 10 seconds time bonus on individual general classification
• Tied riders are awarded the same time bonuses 
• The top 3 in the daily “Attractivity Contest Classification” ranking include tied riders. This means that if for instance the top 3 riders have the same amount of points, each obtains a 30 second time bonus and no other bonus is awarded (see example 2 below). In other words, ties in the upper positions cancel time bonuses relative to the inferior positions. For instance, if the top 2 riders are tied and obtain each 30 second time bonuses, the rider next in line obtains the time bonus relative to the 3rd position, i.e, 10 seconds and not that of the 2nd position. 
• The stage classification settles ties on the individual general classification

Example:

11.1.5.3 The daily Race Appeal ranking must be communicated on an ongoing basis during the race via radio-tour such that the actors are permanently informed of the points awarded on each of the animations; the resulting ranking must be updated following each animation.

This all means that with 6 riders per team, the race becomes much more difficult to control and situation on the road can simply get out of hand. Riders attacking early and gathering points on intermediate sprints and mountain passes may gain enough time to become the race leader, even if the peleton brings them back and the final sprint will be claimed by another rider.

The 70th Tour de Pologne starts in four days. Remember - racing commences in Italy with two tough stages in Trentino - with two uphill finishes. The riders will fight for the victory on the slopes of Madonna di Campiglio during stage 1. Naxt day seems to be even harder as it features Passo Pampeago, Passo Costalunga and the final climb of Passo Pordoi.

What's interesting, there are three intermediate sprints on these highly difficult mountain stages. The full TdP preview willbe online tomorrow or, more likely, on Friday, so stay tuned.

You can download full pdf "TdP Rules" here.