Tour de Pologne's proximity with Ukraine "something amazing" for Mark Padun

Mark Padun, being on of Ukraine's current main riders in the peloton, has talked about his presence at the Tour de Pologne and what the proximity with his home country means to him amidst the invasion of Russia in his home country.

"I saw all these bracelets with the Ukrainian flag in the route book and when I checked the southern part of the route and saw stages go really close to the border, I was like, wow, that's something amazing," Padun told Cyclingnews. The totality of the Tour de Pologne this year takes place in the southeast of Poland, an area which has seen millions of Ukrainian refugees pass by since the end of February when the full-on war began.

Padun, coming from the city of Donetsk which has been under Russian occupation since 2014, has for many years been away from home. The Donetsk Oblast has been for five months again under severe fire. The EF Education-EasyPost rider has revealed that his presence in the Polish race is about more than just competition.

He's talked about how he has good memories of the area where he's currently racing, having briefly lived there in the past. Regarding his family, the 26-year old is happy that safety is for the time being assured. "Luckily all my family are safe, all my friends and this is the most important thing for me now," he said.

"I haven't raced for more than a month, so I don't know exactly how my body will respond. But I'm still confident and I'm still looking for some really good results here," he said. Having crashed hard on the opening day, it was far from an ideal return to racing, however he sits 34th in the overall classification after the third stage.

Padun won the time-trial at the Gran Camiño earlier this year, where he finished third on the overall classification. However, ever since, he's struggled to find his best form, but is optimistic that he'll be able to do so in the final months of the year.