Weeklong race features uphill time trial and three stages over 200km
The map of the 2022 Tour de Pologne(Image credit: Tour de Pologne)
Organisers of the Tour de Pologne have unveiled the route for the 2022 race, which will run for seven stages from July 30 to August 5.
The race will kick off in Kielce for the first time, beginning with a 220.9-kilometre likely sprint stage to Lublin. A final 300 metres at a four per cent gradient will prove a challenge for the sprinters, however.
Stage 2 sees the riders head from Chełm to Zamość, taking in a hilly 203.9 kilometres before a second likely sprint finish on paved roads on a city circuit. The next day – the longest of the race at 229.7 kilometres – will prove the first major challenge for the GC contenders and climbers, with three climbs coming in the final 30 kilometres and double-digit gradients on the last of the three before a finish in Przemyšl.
Stage 4 will be another day for the GC men with more climbing spread throughout the day as the peloton tackles the Sanok-Turczan mountains. The 176.8-kilometre-long stage sees the riders head from Lesko to Sanok before another hilly, 205-kilometre day from Łancut to Rzeszów, including a steep climb just 12 kilometres from the finish.
A 15.4-kilometre uphill time trial comes on stage 6, handing the riders a challenge of 415 metres of elvation gain to the Bukovina Resort, a regular on the Tour de Pologne route. Stage 6 will be the last real chance for the GC men to make a difference on the overall standings. Then the race concludes with a likely sprint stage in Kraków after a hilly 175-kilometre day which takes in 1,971 metres of elevation gain.
The 2022 race will be the 66th edition of the Tour de Pologne, with the race having run interrupted from 1952 onwards. João Almeida, who will ride for UAE Team Emirates next season, is the reigning champion after beating Bahrain Victorious' Matej Mohorič by 20 seconds in August.
Remco Evenepoel, Pavel Sivakov, Michał Kwiatkowski, and Dylan Teuns are among the other recent winners, with no one rider having triumphed more than once since Ondrej Sosenka in the early 2000s.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The race will be the 22nd race of next year's WorldTour calendar, coming in its traditional slot between the end of the Tour de France and start of the Vuelta a España. Next year's WorldTour calendar will be without the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race after the two January races were cancelled once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Check below for the stage profiles of the 2022 Tour de Pologne
Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.
