Tour de Pologne 2023: route has been announced

The Tour of Poland, whose official name in French is Tour de Pologne (TdP, in Polish Wyścig Dookoła Polski), is a stage race part of the 38 events that characterize the World Tour circuit.

The event finds its place on the calendar in August and is a trial that grows in prestige each year due to its strategic location, sandwiched between the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Since 2009, the year of the TdP's inclusion in the UCI World Tour, several champions have challenged each other along the Polish roads for the title: a course generally of seven to eight fractions alternating between flat, bumpy, and medium-mountain tracks has attracted the attention of riders who boast podiums or luxurious placings in famous stage races in their palmarès.

This year's Tour de Pologne will be held precisely from July 29 to August 4; the WorldTour category stage race will offer a route that is, as always, quite varied, within which there will be days dedicated to fast wheels and more challenging fractions that will serve to delineate the general classification, as well as a 16.6-kilometer test against the clock.

Cycling fans of the Tour de Pologne are growing in number; especially since betting on cycling in tournaments has become so easy, fans feel the thrill of the race even more.

Now in its 80th edition this year, the Polish race will start in Poznań and, for the fourth year in a row, will end in Krakow, where we will discover the successor to Ethan Hayter, winner in 2022.

Tour of Poland 2023: most relevant stages

STAGE 1

The first stage of the 80th Tour de Pologne will start in Poznań, with a spectacular finish planned on the track of the Automobil Klub in Poznań, which, like the Polish race, will celebrate a special anniversary in 2023. This stage will be particularly suitable for sprinters.

STAGE 2

Stage 2 marks the race's significant return to Karpacz and the first chance for climbers in this edition.

Karpacz has hosted the final day of the Tour de Pologne for many years. Climbs with gradients of up to 20 percent are expected on the route. It will be a brutal stage finale, the finish line set at the top of the Orlinek climb.

STAGE 5

Stage 5 will be typically mountainous, with an elevation gain of more than 3,000 meters. The finish is expected in Bielsko-Biała, where the race will return after a two-year break, and riders like Richard Carapaz and Michal Kwiatkowski have already triumphed.

However, the riders must overcome many challenging climbs before reaching "Little Vienna," as they call Bielsko-Biała.

STAGE 7

The seventh stage will end as per tradition at Blonie Park in Krakow, a city with which a partnership has been signed until 2026.

Tour de Pologne 2023: the fifth WildCard is for the Polish national team

The Tour of Poland 2023 will award a special WildCard. Having obtained permission from the UCI, the race organizers scheduled to start next July 29 have issued their fifth invitation in favor of the Polish national team, which will thus participate once again in the country's most important event.

In 2022, the home riders proved they could compete with the World Tour champions. In particular, one of the protagonists was Patryk Stosz (Voster ATS Team), who, thanks to his consistent efforts in each stage, won the ranking of the most combative rider.

This decision was made by the organizers in recognition of the team's consistent results and valuable contribution to the development of the sport.

The participation of national riders will also be an important opportunity to promote cycling and inspire young Polish talents, showing them the opportunities, this discipline offers at the international level.

The birth of the Tour de Pologne

The first Tour de Pologne was held in 1928. The Warsaw Cycling Society, the Krakow sports newspaper, and the Przegląd Sportowy jointly requested a new cycling event proposal.

Thanks to their initiative and joint efforts, the Wyścig Dookoła Polski, whose literal translation is "Tour Around Poland," becomes known. Participating in the race are 71 athletes who set off from Warsaw on September 7, 1928, and return to the capital after a 1,491-kilometer route that touches the cities of Lublin, Lviv, Rzeszów, Krakow, Poznań, and Łódź.

The star of the inaugural edition was Feliks Więcek, a rider from the Bydgoszcz Cycling Club, who won six out of eight stages and, of course, the race leader's jersey.

The climb to the World Tour

As we already said, the Tour de Pologne was born in 1928, but it happened sporadically for the first few years and was a race open mainly to amateurs. However, there was plenty of participation by some professionals, usually home riders.

Starting in 1952, it became a regular event. Still, it was not until 1997 that the UCI recognized the event as a professional 2.4 and classified it as a "National Race" - National Race. The climb to higher-level recognition was quick: in 1999, it moved into the 2.3 category, and in 2001 into the 2.2 category.

It was a massive success for the organizers, who were further rewarded in 2005 when the Tour of Poland officially became 2HC and joined the UCI Pro Tour circuit. It has been regularly included in the UCI World Tour calendar since 2009.