Real Cimbing Kicks off at Tour de Pologne

15 July 2016

Race: Tour de Pologne, Stage 4

Start/Finish: Nowy Sacz / Rzeszów, Poland

Distance: 218 kilometers

Rzeszów, Poland — Tour de Pologne’s Stage 4 featured the first real climbing of the seven-day Polish race. The 218-kilometer stage featured five categorized climbs and saw two riders, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team) and Jens Keukeleire (ORICA-BikeExchange), attack immediately following the neutral section. They quickly got a gap but then five riders bridged up. The seven-man break earned a maximum gap of 6:20 before splintering heading up the fourth categorized climb of the stage. Inside the final 30 km, De Marchi went off solo but the attempt was short-lived and the race came together as it reached the first of three laps around Rzeszów. The day came down to a bunch sprint with Fernando Gaviria (Etixx-Quick Step) taking the win and holding onto the overall leader’s jersey. Team Novo Nordisk’s Javier Megias finished in the main group with the same time as Gaviria.

“I felt pretty good, but I don’t have a lot of experience at this level yet. I learned that my position wasn’t as good as it should have been,” Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet said. “When the group split, I was behind. I tried to stay with the group as long as I could but with the speed, I finally exploded. I know tomorrow is more than 200 kilometers and lots of climbing, so I knew I needed to save something in my legs.”

Team Novo Nordisk continues racing on Saturday with Stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne. The 225-km mountainous stage begins in Wieliczka and finishes in front of the Wielka Krokiew ski jump hill in Zakopane. The hardest portion of the stage is the 50-km lap around Zakopane. It includes three categorized climbs, and the riders tackle it twice.