Jan Barta (NetApp) has won the Szlakiem Grodow Piastowskich Tour in Poland. By winning the time trial on Saturday, the 28-year-old Czech rider for Team NetApp-Endura claimed the lead in the general classification and was able to defend this position in Sunday’s final stage. 

The last stage of the tour covered 162 kilometres from Jawor in Lower Silesia to Zlotoryja, a challenging section with four category-one mountain classifications. Davide Rebellin (CCC) prevailed ahead of Alois Kankovsky (ADP) and Bartosz Huzarski of Team NetApp-Endura. Jan Barta rode to a sixth place finish, which was enough to clinch the overall victory. Davide Rebellin and Mateusz Taciak (CCC) came in second and third overall to complete the podium.

“We can be completely satisfied with this result. Not only Jan deserves praise for his outstanding performance, but so does the entire team. This was a great tour for everyone. CCC tried everything they could again today and launched many attacks. But our guys wanted to go home with this win. They didn’t let themselves get distracted, which was why no one could take the win away from us,” Sports Director Enrico Poitschke said after the race.

“It was a challenging finale. There was an incline and cobblestones for the last 600 meters. Jan had to pay attention and keep up with his competitors so that he wouldn’t run the risk of losing the leader’s jersey in the final metres of the race. He did a fantastic job implementing our plan. Bartosz’s third place finish in this stage was the icing on the cake in this tour,” Poitschke continued.

In addition to Jan Barta winning the time trial, the overall classification and the point classification, Team NetApp-Endura also scored a win with Roger Kluge’s triumph in the opening circuit race as well as three third place finishes by Ralf Matzka and Bartosz Huzarski.