Tour de Pologne

Tour de Pologne

Race details
Date	August
Region	Poland
English name	Tour of Poland
Local name(s)	Wyścig Dookoła Polski (Polish)
Discipline	Road race
Competition	UCI World Tour
Type	Stage-race
History
First edition	1928 (1928)
Editions	70 (as of 2013)
First winner	Feliks Więcek (POL)
Most wins	Dariusz Baranowski (POL)  Marian Więckowski (POL) (3 wins)
Most recent	Pieter Weening (NED)

The peloton in the 2004 Tour of Poland.

The Tour de Pologne (French for "Tour of Poland"), official abbreviation TdP, is a road bicycle racing stage race. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km in length. The race was first held in 1928. Until 1952 the race was held sporadically, but since then it has been an annual race. Until early 1993 the race was open to amateur cyclists only and most of its winners came from Poland.

The international cycling association, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), made TdP part of the UCI ProTour in 2005, and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar in 2009.

History

The initial concept of the TdP's multi-stage format was modeled 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 on 7–11 September 1928. 71 cyclists rode almost 1,500 km — the winner was Felix Więcek from the Bydgoszcz Cycling Club.

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.

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 (Tramwajarz Lodz). 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).

Since 1993, Czesław Lang the 1980 Summer Olympics cycling 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 now classified as a "National Race" (first of its kind in Central and Eastern European countries).

In at the 1999 World Championships in Verona, the UCI Technical Commission promoted the race to Class 2.3. In 12 October 2001 the Tour was promoted to category 2.2.

In the 2005 decision of the UCI, the TdP has been 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 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 stars of professional cycling and the world, even Danilo Di Luca (ProTour winner 2005), Laurent Brochard (professional world champion from 1997), Óscar Freire (world champion 1999, 2001 and 2004), Romāns Vainšteins (world champion from 2000), Viatcheslav Ekimov (Olympic Champion of 2000), Gianluca Bortolami (World Cup winner 1994), Erik Dekker (World Cup winner 2001), Stefano Garzelli (winner of 2000 Giro d'Italia) or excellent sprinters: Andrus Auga, Baden Cooke, and Daniele Bennati.

Tour de Pologne four received the title of "Best Sport Event of the Year" in the Przegląd Sportowy polls in 1995, 1996, 2004 and 2008.

List of winners

Year	Winner	Nationality	Stages	Distance
2013	Pieter Weening	Netherlands	7	1238 km
2012	Moreno Moser	Italy	7	1231.6 km
2011	Peter Sagan	Slovakia	7	1113.3 km
2010	Daniel Martin	Ireland	7	1256.5 km
2009	Alessandro Ballan	Italy	7	1158 km
2008	Jens Voigt	Germany	7	1258.6 km
2007	Johan Van Summeren	Belgium	7	1224 km
2006	Stefan Schumacher	Germany	7	1226 km
2005	Kim Kirchen	Luxembourg	8	1246 km
2004	Ondřej Sosenka	Czech Republic	8	1264 km
2003	Cezary Zamana	Poland	8	1133 km
2002	Laurent Brochard	France	8	1273 km
2001	Ondřej Sosenka	Czech Republic	8	1249 km
2000	Piotr Przydział	Poland	7	1164 km
1999	Tomasz Brożyna	Poland	7	1164 km
1998	Serguei Ivanov	Russia	8	1434 km
1997	Rolf Järmann	Switzerland	8	1499 km
1996	Viatcheslav Djavanian	Russia	8	1346 km
1995	Zbigniew Spruch	Poland	7	1254 km
1994	Maurizio Fondriest	Italy	7	1110 km
1993	Dariusz Baranowski	Poland	12	1794 km
1992	Dariusz Baranowski	Poland	8	1149 km
1991	Dariusz Baranowski	Poland	8	1222 km
1990	Mieczysław Karłowicz	Poland	9	1207 km
1989	Marek Wrona	Poland	8	1271 km
1988	Andrzej Mierzejewski	Poland	7	1016 km
1987	Zbigniew Piątek	Poland	8	1162 km
1986	Marek Kulas	Poland	10	1490 km
1985	Marek Leśniewski	Poland	10	1224 km
1984	Andrzej Mierzejewski	Poland	9	1219 km
1983	Tadeusz Krawczyk	Poland	9	1147 km
1982	Andrzej Mierzejewski	Poland	8	892 km
1981	Jan Brzezny	Poland	9	1 195 km
1980	Czesław Lang	Poland	10	1282 km
1979	Henryk Charucki	Poland	9	1335 km
1978	Jan Brzezny	Poland	11	1415 km
1977	Lechosław Michalak	Poland	10	1460 km
1976	Janusz Kowalski	Poland	10	1499 km
1975	Tadeusz Mytnik	Poland	10	1440 km
1974	André Delcroix	Belgium	11	1593 km
1973	Lucjan Lis	Poland	12	1512 km
1972	José Luis Viejo	Spain	10	1194 km
1971	Stanisław Szozda	Poland	12	1291 km
1970	Jan Stachura	Poland	12	1611 km
1969	Wojciech Matusiak	Poland	13	1795 km
1968	Jan Kudra	Poland	12	1757 km
1967	Andrzej Blawdzin	Poland	11	1682 km
1966	Józef Gawliczek	Poland	10	1272 km
1965	Józef Beker	Poland	9	1318 km
1964	Rajmund Zieliński	Poland	10	1394 km
1963	Stanisław Gazda	Poland	8	1482 km
1962	Jan Kudra	Poland	8	1278 km
1961	Henryk Kowalski	Poland	8	1329 km
1960	Roger Diercken	Belgium	8	1336 km
1959	Wiesław Podobas	Poland	11	1621 km
1958	Bogusław Fornalczyk	Poland	11	2038 km
1957	Henryk Kowalski	Poland	11	1968 km
1956	Marian Więckowski	Poland	8	1221 km
1955	Marian Więckowski	Poland	10	1563 km
1954	Marian Więckowski	Poland	12	1925 km
1953	Mieczysław Wilczewski	Poland	13	2311 km
1952	Wacław Wójcik	Poland	11	1959 km
1949	Francesco Locatelli	Italy	12	1994 km
1948	Wacław Wójcik	Poland	11	1963 km
1947	Stanislaw Grzelak	Poland	4	606 km
1939	Bolesław Napierała	Poland	8	1291 km
1937	Bolesław Napierała	Poland	9	1336 km
1933	Jerzy Lipiński	Poland	9	1721 km
1929	Józef Stefański	Poland	12	2250 km
1928	Feliks Więcek	Poland	8	1491 km

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tour de Pologne.

• Official website
• Palmares at Cycling Archives