CCC Sprandi Polkowice will wrap up the 2016 season with two Asian HC races – Abu Dhabi Tour (20-23.10) and Tour of Hainan (22-30.10).

The former stage event will be 4 days long. It includes three completely flat stages for sprinters and one with a mountain top finish to Jebel Hafeet (10 kilometers of climbing). The days in the saddle will be short, but definitely not easy. High temperatures in the desert, combined with a quality peloton will make the racing demanding.

6 riders in orange are heading to the capital of Unite Arab Emirates – David Rebellin, Jan Hirt, Maciej Paterski, Łukasz Owsian, Michał Paluta and Alan Banaszek. Rebellin and Hirt are eying stage 3 with the mountainous finale. Banaszek, who finished 10th in the U23 world championship road race, is hoping to bring home top result in the flat stages. The other members of the National Team for the Worlds in Doha, Paterski and Owsian, together with young Paluta wll look for their opportunities in the breakaways.

Tour of Hainan is a 9-day event, which has been on the team’s racing calendar for many years. This year the organizers have planned out seven sprint stages and two hilly ones (stage 6 and 8). The sixth day of racing seems to be crucial in terms of general classification. On that day the riders will tackle a cat. 1 climb, with a summit located just 12 kilometers from the finish. The penultimate stage will include 4 categorized climbs (one cat. 1 and three cat.3), but the last one is only cat. 3 and the race may be brought back together inside the final the 15 flat kilometers.

The orange squad will be represented by 7 riders. Simone Ponzi is the team’s man for the sprint. He has broken the same collarbone twice this season, didn’t race as much as he would like to and he’s still hungry for competition, even though the season comes to an end. The rest of the team – Branislau Samoilau, Adrian Kurek, Patryk Stosz, Jakub Kaczmarek, Kamil Małecki and Piotr Brożyna – will try to ride aggressively and help the team leader.

Three World Tour teams are going to take part in the race around the Chinese island (Astana, Lampre-Merida, Gian-Alpecin), as well as some second and third division squads. Among them there are few Asian teams, for which this event is one of the highlights of the season.

Line-up of CCC Sprandi Polkowice for Abu Dhabi Tour (20–23.10, 2.HC): 

David Rebellin, Jan Hirt, Maciej Paterski, Łukasz Owsian, Michał Paluta, Alan Banaszek

Line-up of CCC Sprandi Polkowice for Tour of Hainan (22-30.10, 2.HC): 

Simone Ponzi, Branislau Samoilau, Adrian Kurek, Patryk Stosz, Jakub Kaczmarek, Kamil Małecki, Piotr Brożyna