Commencing Saturday, the 70th Tour de Pologne hits full swing immediately with two difficult mountain stages and leaves little time for the peloton to adjust. With an ambitious and well-prepared Stef Clement, the Belkin Pro Cycling Team hopes to make a flying start to the race.

"The first two stages are very hard and the GC will immediately take shape," Sports Director Erik Dekker explained. "Our GC riders will need to be ready." Steven Kruijswijk, Luis León Sánchez and Clement will race for the general classification. "I saw a very strong Stef during the training camp in Germany," Dekker added. "After his good performance in the Dauphiné, he has another chance to ride for himself."

Altitude tent

In early June Clement finished eleventh overall in the France stage race. Regarding the Tour de Pologne, the Dutchman is a bit reserved. He hasn’t raced since the Dutch Championships, but did everything to be good in Poland. “The last three weeks I’ve slept in an altitude tent. It’s the first time in my career I’ve tried something like this, so we’ll have to see what it brings, but I'm very ambitious going into this race. It is an important one for us.”

In the sprint stages the team will count on Mark Renshaw, David Tanner and Robert Wagner to bring home glory and stage wins.

The Tour of Poland will take place from July 27 to August 3.

Belkin lline-up for Tour de Pologne:

Stef Clement, Steven Kruijswijk, Mark Renshaw, Luis León Sánchez, David Tanner and Robert Wagner.

You can follow the Tour de Pologne live here on Cyclingquotes.com.