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.
Stage 4: Rybnik - Ciezyn, 199.9 kilometers
Prediction Tour de Pologne 2025 stage 4:
*** 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
** 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.
Original: Rúben Silva
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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