 2025 Tour de Pologne | |
 | |
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | August |
| Region | Poland |
| English name | Tour of Poland |
| Local name(s) | Wyścig Dookoła Polski (in Polish) |
| Discipline | Road race |
| Competition | UCI World Tour |
| Type | Race stage |
| Organiser | Lang TeamSp. z o.o. |
| Race director | Czesław Lang |
| Web site | tourdepologne |
| History | |
| First edition | 1928; 97 years ago (1928) |
| Editions | 82 (as of2025) |
| First winner |  Feliks Więcek (POL) |
| Most wins | Dariusz Baranowski (POL) Andrzej Mierzejewski (POL) Marian Więckowski (POL)
|
| Most recent |  Brandon McNulty (USA) |
.jpg)
TheTour de Pologne (Polish:Wyścig Dookoła Polski,lit. 'Tour of Poland'), officially abbreviatedTdP, is an annual, professional men'smultiple-stagebicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km in length. The race was first held in 1928 and is considered the oldest and most important bicycle race in Poland.
The race was held periodically until 1952, after which it became an annual event. Until early 1993 the race was open toamateur cyclists only and most of its winners came from Poland. Since 2009, the race has been taking place between July and August.[1]
The international cycling association, theUnion Cycliste Internationale (UCI), made TdP part of theUCI ProTour in 2005, and part of theUCI World Tour, cycling's highest level of professional men's races, in 2009. In 2016, the three-stage women's competitionTour de Pologne kobiet was organised one day after the last men's stage.[2] Three riders,Dariusz Baranowski,Andrzej Mierzejewski andMarian Więckowski, share the record of most wins, with three each.[3]
The initial concept of the TdP's multi-stage format was modelled after the popularTour de France. The proposal for organizing the event was submitted jointly by the Warsaw Cycling Society and thePrzegląd Sportowy sports newspaper published inKraków. Thanks to their initiative, aWyścig 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 theSecond Polish RepublicIgnacy Mościcki while the President of the Honorary Committee was MarshalJózef Piłsudski.[4][5]
Until the outbreak ofWorld 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.[6]
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 houseCzytelnik 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.[7] 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 — thePeace Race. Noteworthy moments from that time period: triumphs of foreign cyclists —Francesco Locatelli (1949),Roger Diercken (1960),José Viejo (1972) andAndré Delcroix (from 1974); the longest edition of the race - 2,311 km and 13 stages (in 1953); and the hat-trick of victories ofMarian Wieckowski (1954–56), matched only byDariusz Baranowski (1991–93).[8]
In 1993,Czesław Lang, the1980 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 aUCI World Ranking event.[9]
In 1997, during theUCI 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 the1999 UCI Road World Championships, theUCI Technical Commission promoted the race to Class 2.3. On 12 October 2001 the Tour was promoted to category 2.2.[10]
In the 2005 decision of the UCI, the TdP was included in the elite of cycling events — theUCI ProTour.[11] 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 asDanilo Di Luca,Laurent Brochard,Óscar Freire,Romāns Vainšteins,Viatcheslav Ekimov,Gianluca Bortolami,Erik Dekker,Stefano Garzelli,Vincenzo Nibali andJonas Vingegaard as well as cyclists likeMark 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 andPeter Sagan.
Tour de Pologne received the title of "Best Sport Event of the Year" on six occasions in thePrzegląd Sportowy polls in 1995, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2015.[12]
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 andŠtrbské Pleso in 2014).[13][14][15][16]
In 2024, the second edition of the women's race, officially known as Tour de Pologne Women, was held between 28-30 June.[17]
| Wins | Rider | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Dariusz Baranowski (POL) | 1991, 1992, 1993 |
| Andrzej Mierzejewski (POL) | 1982, 1984, 1988 | |
| Marian Więckowski (POL) | 1954, 1955, 1956 | |
| 2 | Jan Brzeźny (POL) | 1978, 1981 |
| Henryk Kowalski (POL) | 1957, 1961 | |
| Jan Kudra (POL) | 1962, 1968 | |
| Bolesław Napierała (POL) | 1937, 1939 | |
 Ondřej Sosenka (CZE) | 2001,2004 | |
| Wacław Wójcik (POL) | 1948, 1952 |
| # | Country | Victories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poland | 52 |
| 2 |  Belgium | 6 |
| 3 |  Italy | 4 |
| 4 |  Russia | 3 |
| 5 | Czech Republic | 2 |
 Germany | 2 | |
 Spain | 2 | |
| 8 |  Denmark | 1 |
 France | 1 | |
 Ireland | 1 | |
 Luxembourg | 1 | |
 Netherlands | 1 | |
 Portugal | 1 | |
 Slovakia | 1 | |
 Slovenia | 1 | |
 Switzerland | 1 | |
 United Kingdom | 1 | |
 United States | 1 |
Throughout the history of Tour de Pologne, two fatal accidents involving riders participating in the race occurred:
 | This sectioncontains alist of miscellaneous information. Please helpimprove it byrelocating relevant information into other sections or articles.(June 2024) |
