Tour de Pologne

History

Beginnings

The initial concept of the TdP's multi-stage format was modelled after the popular Tour de France. The proposal for organizing the event was submitted jointly by the Warsaw Cycling Society and the Przegląd Sportowy sports newspaper published in Kraków. Thanks to their initiative, a Wyścig Dookoła Polski (Race Around Poland, the original name of the TdP) was held in the summer of 1928. The historic first edition of the race took place from 7–11 September 1928. 71 cyclists rode almost 1,500 km — the winner was Felix Więcek from the Bydgoszcz Cycling Club. The honorary patrons of the race included President of the Second Polish Republic Ignacy Mościcki while the President of the Honorary Committee was Marshal Józef Piłsudski.

Until the outbreak of World War II, the TdP took place four times, two of which — in the years 1937 and 1939 - were won by the "Tiger of the Roads" - Bolesław Napierała.

The early races differed significantly from today's. The stages were much longer (often a distance of 300 km), and riders repeatedly caught flat tires on stone-chipped roads, and made stops at local restaurants.

Post-WWII

After the war, the idea of a cycling competition around Poland was reborn. In 1947, thanks to the cooperation of the Polish Cycling Association, the publishing house Czytelnik and a group of journalists, the race was reactivated after an 8-year break. The winner after just four stages and only 606 km (the shortest route in the history of the TdP) was Stanislaw Grzelak. Until 1993 it was not possible for the organizers of TdP to achieve an adequate rank for their event. This was due to the official stance of the authorities and the favoring of a different cycling event — the Peace Race. Noteworthy moments from that time period: triumphs of foreign cyclists — Francesco Locatelli (1949), Roger Diercken (1960), José Viejo (1972) and André Delcroix (from 1974); the longest edition of the race - 2,311 km and 13 stages (in 1953); and the hat-trick of victories of Marian Wieckowski (1954–56), matched only by Dariusz Baranowski (1991–93).

In 1993, Czesław Lang, the 1980 Summer Olympics cycling road race silver medalist and the winner of the 1980 TdP, took over the function of TdP Director. Thanks to his persistent efforts, the TdP is now a UCI World Ranking event.

In 1997, during the UCI congress in San Sebastian, TdP advanced to the professional category of 2.4, and was classified as a "National Race" (the first of its kind in Central and Eastern European countries).

At the 1999 UCI Road World Championships, the UCI Technical Commission promoted the race to Class 2.3. On 12 October 2001 the Tour was promoted to category 2.2.

Since 2005

In the 2005 decision of the UCI, the TdP was included in the elite of cycling events — the UCI ProTour. The composition of the sample were three Grand Tours: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España, classic World Cup, staged races 2.HC category (i.e. Paris–Nice, Tour de Suisse), the classics 1.HC (i.e. La Flèche Wallonne - The Walloon Arrow) and the TdP, which was advanced by 2 categories to 2HC.

Over several years, the activities of Polish precursor of professional law enforcement — Czeslaw Lang, Kolarska amateur event, known in the mainly communist countries, has been transformed into a well-organized professional race. This resulted in the groups with the top names of professional cycling such as Danilo Di Luca, Laurent Brochard, Óscar Freire, Romāns Vainšteins, Viatcheslav Ekimov, Gianluca Bortolami, Erik Dekker, Stefano Garzelli, Vincenzo Nibali and Jonas Vingegaard as well as cyclists like Mark Cavendish, Cadel Evans, Fabio Aru, Baden Cooke, Daniele Bennati, Richard Carapaz, Matej Mohorič, Simon Yates, Jakob Fuglsang, Dan Martin, Thibaut Pinot, Bradley Wiggins, André Greipel, Remco Evenepoel, Geraint Thomas and Peter Sagan.

Tour de Pologne received the title of "Best Sport Event of the Year" on six occasions in the Przegląd Sportowy polls in 1995, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2015.

The Czech Republic, Italy and Slovakia are the three countries which have hosted stages or part of a stage of Tour de Pologne: (Český Těšín in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Trentino South Tirol in 2013 and Štrbské Pleso in 2014).

Women's race

In 2024, the second edition of the women's race, officially known as Tour de Pologne Women, was held between 28-30 June. In 2026, the women's race joined the UCI ProSeries.

List of winners

Multiple winners

Winners by country

Accidents

Throughout the history of Tour de Pologne, two fatal accidents involving riders participating in the race occurred:

• On 18 September 1967, 22-year-old Polish rider Jan Myszak (Legia Warsaw) died as a result of head injury sustained in an accident on 17 September during the third stage of the race from Przemyśl to Sanok.
• On 5 August 2019, 22-year-old Belgian rider Bjorg Lambrecht () crashed 60 miles from the end of the third stage of the race from Chorzów to Zabrze. He was taken by helicopter to hospital but died later on the same day during a surgery as a result of internal hemorrhage.

References

References

1. "Tour de Pologne – ponad 90 lat na rowerze!".
2. "Tour de Pologne Women 2016".
3. "Winners".
4. "History".
5. "History".
6. "Historia TDP – początki wyścigu".
7. "Pedal power: the history of the Tour de Pologne".
8. "Winners".
9. "About me".
10. (19 January 2021). "Tour de Pologne".
11. (9 December 2015). "TOUR DE POLOGNE ENDORSES UCI'S WORLDTOUR REFORM".
12. "Tour de Pologne Imprezą Roku w Plebiscycie "Przeglądu Sportowego" i TVP".
13. "Trasa Tour de Pologne wiedzie przez Czechy".
14. "Jubileuszowy Tour de Pologne rozpocznie się... we Włoszech".
15. (5 November 2012). "Tour of Poland to start in Trentino, Italy in 2013".
16. "Tour de Pologne: triumf Rafała Majki na Słowacji [5. ETAP - RELACJA]".
17. (30 June 2024). "Wielki finał Tour de Pologne Women w Kazimierzu Dolnym".
18. "UCI Cycling calendar 2026".
19. "Historia: Tragiczna śmierć Myszaka w Tour de Pologne (1967)".
20. (5 August 2019). "Bjorg Lambrecht: Belgian cyclist dies following crash during the Tour de Pologne". BBC Sport.
21. (7 August 2019). "Bjorg Lambrecht's death caused by internal hemorrhage".
22. "Belgian cyclist Bjorg Lambrecht, 22, dies after crashing during race".