"The race has already been a success both for me and for the team" - Paul Lapeira upsets favourites in Poland

Paul Lapeira may not have been the most often mentioned name at the start of Tour de Pologne, but the former French champion upset all pre-race favourites with an incredible turn of speed on the final climb in Karpacz. Only a third WorldTour victory for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale this season, this is also an important moment for Lapeira who missed a large of the 2025 season with an injury. Suddenly, he finds himself in an overall lead of the Polish stage race and with many more uphill sprints ahead, it doesn't need to be only one triumph for Lapeira this week.

"It was a very hard-fought win, there was a lot of tension in the last 60 kilometres," Lapeira said afterwards. "The team did a great job to get me up there in the final, and having that good position was crucial to helping me get the win. I felt very good but I made sure I held back as long as possible to be certain of attacking at just the right moment. When I got to the front of the race, I gave it everything in the last 200 metres."

"I had no idea where anybody was, I wasn't looking back," Lapeira said afterwards. "I just looked at the finish line, I didn't know anything until I watched a video afterwards."

"Winning today, in any case, makes me feel great after such a tough start to the year. I knew that I'd trained well in these last few weeks at home, but you always need to make sure that hard work actually counts for something in a race, too." No backing down from this point onwards: "We'll do everything we can to defend the lead, but whatever happens from now on, Pologne can be considered a success both for me and for the team."