'We had to spend a lot of bullets' - Kwiatkowski reassured at Tour de Pologne
On the eve of the Tour de Pologne, Michal Kwiatkowski revealed his fears over the nagging knee injury that had interrupted his 2025 season. On stage 2 to Karpacz, the former world champion delivered a fine cameo in the finale.
There were times this year when Michał Kwiatkowski wondered if his career was drawing to a close. A nagging knee injury kept him out of compeition for four and a half months after Tirreno-Adriatico, and in a social media post last week, he admitted that he feared he had reached “the end of the road.”
Those concerns will surely be subsiding after a spirited display on stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne, where Kwiatkowski dictated the pace in a reduced front group on the stiff final climb to Karpacz.
As rain began to fall steadily over the Karkonosze Mountains, the former world champion took matters in hand on behalf of Ineos teammates Magnus Sheffield and Victor Langellotti, who took a surprising third place on the day.
After swinging off, Kwiatkowski would finish in 34th, 38 seconds down on winner Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R), but his cameo in Karpacz offered confirmation that the Pole still has plenty of road still ahead of him this season and beyond.
“From San Sebastián and the first stage here, I didn’t take a lot of confidence,” Kwiatkowski told Domestique beyond the finish line. “I knew I did a lot of work and I know I did 100% of what I wanted to do in my training sessions of the last two months, but to fight for the win at this level when the guys have already 40 or 50 days in the legs, or when they’re coming off the Tour de France, is very hard.
“I’m not coming off the Tour de France, I’ve been preparing for the Vuelta, so I’m happy with where I am in this minute. Normally I’m not so good after altitude camp, if I look back at Dauphiné performances over the years, so I’m happy with today.”
Kwiatkowski set to work here with the idea of teeing up Sheffield, but while that didn’t quite work out as planned – the American lost 22 seconds after striking out early – Langellotti salvaged a tangible reward for his efforts. In any case, Kwiatkowski seemed to relish being back at the business end of a race after such a long hiatus.
“It was all about being patient today because the last k is very steep,” he said. “They said it was a mountain stage but it was really 4-5% gradient most of the day, so we were fighting sprinters on the way to the last climb.
“That made it a very nervous peloton with a lot of small crashes along the way, so we had to spend a lot of bullets just for the positioning. But we were fighting for the victory at the end, so I would say it’s been a successful day to get through.”
Kwiatkowski began his 2025 season on an upbeat note with victory at the Clásica Jaén, but the lingering effects of a crash at Strade Bianche would force him to abandon Tirreno-Adriatico. Initially, he assumed the crash itself was the source of his persistent knee pain, but he eventually traced the problem to a biomechanical issue.
Per Daniel Benson, Kwiatkowski is believed to be staying put with Ineos for the next two seasons. In the more immediate future, he will travel to the Vuelta a España in support of Egan Bernal. And before that, of course, there are more opportunities ahead on home roads.
“The Vuelta is my main goal for the rest of the season, but I’m just trying to be the best version of myself every single day here and use my skills to lead the team here and there,” Kwiatkowski said. “We’re not giving up, and even if we’re not the main favourites here, we’re going to give it a go. I think sooner or later we’ll put the hands in the air.”
