Tour de Pologne 2025 Preview - The WorldTour's most unpredictable race?

The joy of the Tour de Pologne often lies in its unpredictability. Coming barely a week after the Tour de France, the field is composed primarily of riders feeling their way back into action ahead of the final months of the season. Form lines aren’t always entirely clear this point in the season, and motivation is nine-tenths of the law.

A year ago, mind, there was no surprise when Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) claimed overall victory, but there is no such behemoth in the peloton this year. The seven-day event instead promises to be an open one.

Juan Ayuso was initially pencilled in to ride, but Tadej Pogacar’s decision to forgo the Vuelta a España has allowed the Spaniard to take another tilt at a Grand Tour in 2025 and so he misses the Tour de Pologna. 

But even in his absence, UAE Team Emirates-XRG arrive in Poland with a deep team and an obvious potential winner in Brandon McNulty. The American hasn’t raced since he placed ninth overall at the Giro d’Italia in May, but the final day time trial is tailored to his talents. He is joined in the squad by Jan Christen, who was impressive but headstrong at San Sebastián, and Rafal Majka, who will hope to leave a mark in his final appearance in his home race.

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is in Poland to build towards the Vuelta a España, and the final three days of the race, in particular, offer the Italian a useful work-out ahead of the main event. He lines up alongside Pello Bilbao and Jack Haig. Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) has impressed in 2025 and he will surely be buoyed by what his contemporary Oscar Onley achieved at the Tour. The Briton is worth watching closely here.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are generating headlines elsewhere in August, of course, but they already have a deep roster, and Finn Fisher-Black and Daniel Martínez will lead their challenge in Poland. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) has been one of the season’s outstanding performers and he showcased his recent form with a stage win on the Tour de Wallonie. 

Other potential overall contenders include Magnus Sheffield (Ineos), Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) and home favourite Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), who has finished on the podium four times over the years, most recently in 2023.

But the intrigue of the Tour de Pologne is never limited to the GC battle. The flat opening phase promises bunch sprint action, with Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike), Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R), Elia Viviani (Lotto) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) all lining up. 

The versatile Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike), one of the breakout riders of the year, is also in action. The Briton is a difficult rider to pigeonhole, and the Tour de Pologne offers him ample opportunity to shine across the week.

And one of the great subplots to the week, of course, will be the ongoing battle to stave off WorldTour relegation. XDS-Astana have made a point of targeting points in Off Broadway events this year and their relatively subdued Tour de France was perhaps in keeping with that approach. It was certainly striking that they held back Alberto Bettiol in July, and the Italian will be expected to weigh in with some points here. 

Cofidis are the team currently facing the drop, and they are under increasing pressure to score points, even if their line-up here doesn’t offer guarantees. After a disappointing Tour de France, they might find themselves hoping a possible Intermarché-Lotto merger grants them a reprieve at season’s end.

And that, of course, is the other undercurrent to the Tour de Pologne – and, indeed, to every race at this point in the season. The peloton is filled with riders racing for their futures or, at the very least, yet to decide on their 2025 destinations. Haig, Sam Bennnett, and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) are among the riders in Poland who are yet to confirm their plans for next year. Everybody has something to race for, in other words.

The 2025 Tour de Pologne sticks to the south of the country, setting off from Wroclaw on the banks of the river Oder. Stage 1 to Legnica looks a nailed-on bunch sprint, not least because it’s the only pan flat road stage on the menu.

Stage 2 to Karpacz features a two-part climb to the finish that will provide the first real GC skirmish. The following day to Wałbrzych features a brutal succession of short, steep climbs - the kind that drain the legs and favour explosive riders. The terrain is unforgiving and will almost certainly reduce the peloton before the final. Expect Matthew Brennan to be among the main protagonists.

The following day’s run to Walbryzch has bunch sprint potential, though the rugged terrain beforehand might well whittle down the peloton. Expect Matthew Brennan to be to the fore.

Although stage 4 features two category 1 ascents, the last 60km or so are flat and fast, so the sprinters could have one last joust in Ciezeyn before the focus shifts definitively to the general classification.

The ski resort of Zakopane returns to the route on stage 5 and the rugged terrain will provoke separation among the GC men. The most demanding leg arrives on stage 6, around the Bukowina resort, with six classified ascents as well as a deceptively tough rise to the line. Thibau Nys punched his way to victory there a year ago.

The race will be decided, meanwhile, in the final time trial at the Wieliczka Salt Mine outside Krakow. Just 12.5km in length, the course climbs early on but it’s then a flat and very fast run towards the finish, and men like Küng and McNulty will have designs on victory.