CCC Sprandi Polkowice has designated a strong, climbing roster for the Czech Cycling Tour (2.1). Among the selected eight riders are two Czechs who will want to showcase their skills in front of their home fans.

Victor de la Parte, Felix Grossschartner, Jan Hirt and Davide Rebellin – all of them are able to claim top place in the overall standings. Due to the lack a of mountain top finish, it appears that Davide Rebellin has the biggest chances of taking the GC win. He indicated good form at Rad am Ring, where he finished 5th.

De la Parte has performed well in the previous stage races as he took 11th in Tour de Suisse 3rd in the Tour of Croatia. Grossschartner was 4th in the Croatian event and was getting stronger with every  race. Jan Hirt is the winner of Tour of Austria and the support of his Czech fans should give him an extra motivational boost. The exact leader of the team will be selected depending on the current GC standings and the riders’ sensations.

The rest of the roster is also capable of delivering great results or being extremely valuable for the team. Nikolay Mihaylov smashed his opponents in the Sibiu Cycling Tour, held in July, so other teams should keep an eye on him. Sylwester Szmyd and Branislau Samoilau are both very solid climbers and can sacrifice for the leader. Josef Cerny will try to make his Czech fans happy by getting in the breaks and breaking the field apart.

The Czech Cycling Tour is a 4-stage event, which kicks off with an undulating team time trial around Frydek Mistek (17,3m). The Polkowice-based squad is one of the best ProContinental teams in that discipline and will try to take advantage of the stage and build up a time gap in GC. Mihaylov, Samoilau, de la Parte and Grossschartner have proven to be among the strongest in the race against the clock.

After the TTT the riders will face the stage from Olomouc to Unicov. It features some climbing but all of it will be done earlier in the race. The final 50 kilometers are all flat and a bunch sprint finish is expected.

On the third day of competition, the peloton will go from Mohelnice to Sternbek and it seems to be the hardest stage of the race. There are 7 KOM’s to crest and the climb to Vidly (at 88,2km) seems to be the most demanding. It’s 8-9 kilometers long and ends at a altitude of almost 800 meters. The last 35 kilometers will be carried out on a short circuit, with one punchy, categorized hill to Ecce Homo. The home straight is on the flat.

The last stage will start in Olomouc and after two KOMs inside the first 60km, the bunch will enter Dolany. This city will be the host of the final circuit, with one short climb, which will be covered 9 times.

Line-up of CCC Sprandi Polkowice for Czech Cycling Tour (11-14.08, 2.1):

Jan Hirt, Josef Cerny, Davide Rebellin, Victor de la Parte, Felix Grossschartner, Sylwester Szmyd, Nikolay Mihaylov, Branislau Samoilau