TOUR OF POLAND 2019 – STAGE 6 PREVIEW

Today, Luka Mezgec showed once again that he is in amazing form at the moment by winning the uphill sprint with remarkable ease. However, play-time is now truly over for the sprinters as we head towards stages that the GC riders have been waiting for.

The Route:

As we have come to expect from the Tour of Poland, today’s stage will feature a local circuit. This time however, the local circuit encompasses the majority of the stage. After a tough uphill start, 5 laps of 28.9km will have to be completed, in which the climb to Pitoniowka (2.7km, 8.8%) will cause carnage. Once they have completed the laps, the peloton needs to battle one final climb(4.2km, 6.8%) before descending to the finish line.

Weather-Watch:

There might be some light rain in the morning, but it will be dry in the afternoon so it won’t impact the riders too much.

The Race:

Since today is the queen stage of this year’s Tour of Poland, we can expect a lot of action from the climbers and GC-contenders. They have been waiting and conserving energy in the past few days, but now they can finally be unleashed.

The climb in the local circuit favours smaller, punchier climbers. The final descend also provides an opportunity for the fast descenders to break away from the group and go for a solo victory.

The Favorites:

Higuita
The short, steep climb seems tailor-made for the small Colombian climber. He packs a relatively fast sprint, so he can also win the sprint from a small group.

Majka
Will want to show something in his home race, and this is his best chance. Had a strong finish in today’s uphill sprint.

Formolo
The other GC-hope for Bora. Could benefit from the presence of his teammate Majka to go for a solo attack.

Lopez
His attack in the last kilometers today was kind of weird and badly timed, but it could show he is very confident about his form. Probably needs to finish solo since his sprint is not strong enough to win.

Sivakov
Our favorite for the GC. Has been a little undercover so far this race, but today his team has proven to be very strong.

Outsiders: I.Izagirre, Ulissi, Latour, Knox, Geoghegan Hart, Vingegaard

The Winner:

We believe Sergio Higuita is going to take his first World Tour win in his first European World Tour race tomorrow!