PREVIEW | Tour de Pologne 2025 stage 4 - Will Visma obtain their second win of the week?

From the 4th to 10th of August the World Tour calendar continues with it's first post-Tour de France stage-race: the Tour de Pologne. This week-long race in Poland is always packed with opportunities for the sprinters, classics riders and time-trialists. We preview stage 4.

Stage 4 sees a return of the sprinters to the front. It is a day with 200 kilometers on the menu starting in Rybnik and finishing in Ciezyn, however it's not all flat and the first two thirds of the day do feature some ascents where a high pace can put some in difficulty.

However it is not dramatic and the peloton will then travel to a final circuit where they will take on four urban laps finishing with a 700-meter ascents that averages at 4%. Not a pure sprint, it can be argued. The pace over the day's climbs will have a lot of influence over how many sprinters will be able to fight for the win in the end. The final circuit presents a few gradients but it's all big-ring efforts and they are not big. All can survive, but in the final lap the pace may be all-out from the bottom and a few may not have legs to sprint anymore.

But when you see men like Olav Kooij and Matthew Brennan of Visma or Paul Magnier, you're talking about very strong sprinters who can handle these short climbs very well.

*** Olav Kooij, Paul Magnier
** Ben Turner, Matthew Brennan, Dorian Godon, Marijn van den Berg
* Quinten Hermans, Madis Mihkels, Maxim van Gils, Finn Fisher-Black, Arjen Livyns, Jan Christen, Casper van Uden, Diego Ulissi, Max Kanter, Ethan Vernon, Andrea Bagioli

Pick: Olav Kooij

How: Regular bunch sprint, albeit missing a few men. I think Visma may try to go with Brennan for the win but on paper Olav Kooij in form can comfortably survive this finale.