PREVIEW | Tour de Pologne 2024 - Jonas Vingegaard battles UAE in the race where he took his first pro win

From the 12th to 18th of August we have on the road the Tour de Pologne. It collides with other big races in the calendar but every year it features a quality startlist with all kinds of riders. The seven stages will provide plenty opportunities in the only World Tour stage-race that comes between the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. We preview the race ahead.

It is a week of racing in Poland with seven stages. There won't be any high mountain stages but several hilly days, a few opportunities for the sprinters and a time-trial that should be key for the decision of the GC.

The race starts off right away with a difficult stage. The opening two stages have the same finale and both have a hilltop finish in Karpacz. Everything in the opening day will be about this final ascent which is 3.2 kilometers long at 6.5%.

The second day of racing is a hilly time-trial, with a rather flat start but the same two climbs close to the finale. It is a very open day, a mix of specialists, puncheurs and climbers can do well in this effort that will be key for the overall classification.

3100 meters of climbing on stage 3 of the race, the day with the hardest start of the whole week. Most of the climbing actually comes in these first hours of racing with constant ascents - some short and steep, some long and constant... All kind of climbs. It is another day for the GC contenders with a hilltop finish featuring a 900-meter ramp at 8% to the line.

Stage 4 has a very difficult uphill start which may motivate lots of attacks. The first half of the stage is rather hard and could see a strong group go up the road. But if not, it could lead to the first bunch sprint of the race in Prudnik.

The city of Katowice will host the start and finish of stage 5, a day that is expected to be contested only by the sprinters, with a technical finale making it challenging ever for the most experienced.

The sixth stage is perhaps the queen stage of the race? There have been a few important stages beforehand but here the riders tackle an incredibly steep climb twice which goes up to 20%, the last time in the final kilometers. Still, the riders will have a traditional hilltop finish in Bukovina which is 4 kilometers long at around 5%.

The race ends with a traditional sprint stage leading the riders into Krakow.

UAE - UAE have a very strong team with a lot of depth. Funnily, they do not have any of their big climbers or leaders but come with a lineup that focuses on numbers - as they do with many non-World Tour stage-races. The team come in with Tour of Austria winner Diego Ulissi, Jan Christen who recently won two hilly classics and finished in the Top10 of the Clásica San Sebastián, Tim Wellens who gets his freedom after a strong Tour de France riding in support of Tadej Pogacar, former race winner Rafal Majka and Felix Grossschartner straight from the Olympics - a rider who can time-trial and climb well. Overall, a strong team, and they will attack the hilly stages, perhaps to take the GC victory.

Jonas Vingegaard - The big question of the race. The Dane comes in with the goal of winning he said it himself but doing it is a different task and certainly a difficult one. He won a stage here in 2019, his first as a pro... He is a strong climbers but will not have long climbs to do damage. In these short hills, and with the bad form he showed in San Sebastián, a victory is all but assured and I will say rather difficult. He will need to be able to withstand the possible chaos of the hilly days and hope for a time-trial at his best level. Wilco Kelderman will serve as a co-leader or possibly luxury domestique to make the race hard when it matters the most.

Matej Mohoric & Pello Bilbao - Pello Bilbao was third here the last time he raced back in 2022 and Mohoric is the defending champion. Bahrain - Victorious is a team with large influence from eastern Europe and is deploying serious weapons to revalidate their title. The time-trial will not favour them, but both riders are quite aggressive and well suited to the hilly terrain that will be faced; both also have a strong sprint and bonifications are often key in this race.

Mads Pedersen & Thibau Nys - Ordinarily, not two riders that fight for stage-race wins, but they certainly can. Mads Pedersen can grab bonifications in most days, he can climb very well on his best form - and there are no long climbs here - and he also packs a strong time-trial. Could be an interesting outsiders... Thibau Nys' time-trial is not reliable, but we have in him another puncheur who can win on the hilly stages and capture bonifications throughout the race. In their best form, both can be in the fight for the win here.

In the field we have other riders who have the capacity to feature in the fight for the overall classification. With explosive hilly days, tactics to be played out and a modest field, it can be very open. In here we have quality time-trialists such as Magnus Sheffield, Tobias Foss, Lukas Nerurkar, Rune Herregodts, Raul García Pierna who can then defend themselves uphill... Max Schachmann who is strong against the clock and uphill but his form is a big wildcard; and other quality climbers/puncheurs such as DSM duo Romain Bardet and Oscar Onley, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Laurence Pithie and Jayco duo Lucas Hamilton and David Jesús Peña.

*** Diego Ulissi, Jonas Vingegaard
** Tim Wellens, Jan Christen, Pello Bilbao, Magnus Sheffield
* Matej Mohoric, Felix Grossschartner, Laurence Pithie, Max Schachmann, Romain Bardet, Oscar Onley, Wilco Kelderman, Mads Pedersen, Thibau Nys

Pick: Diego Ulissi