The WorldTour stage racing continues next week for Team Giant-Alpecin with the Tour de Pologne, which features seven stages on a variety of terrain.
The 73rd edition starts with a trio of fast-finish stages, through scattered hills and urban areas that should be favourable for the fast riders and the late attackers. On stage four the overall classification riders will need to stay vigilant with five categorized climbs in the middle of the course before tackling a flat finale. Stage five is 223km long and after the first 25km there is basically zero flat kilometres all the way to the finish line. Stage six is the queen stage and the peloton will be in for a tough day with a lot of climbing and a total of 15 categorized climbs. The Tour de Pologne finishes with a 25km individual time trial around the historic city Krakow that should favour the big engines.
Coach Morten Bennekou said: "We are aiming for the sprints with possibilities for more than one rider, such as Nikias [Arndt] and Max [Walscheid]. They are both in good form at the moment with the latter taking a silver medal at the German national championships. With Bert [De Backer], Koen [De Kort], Tom [Stamsnijder] and Zico [Waeytens] we have a strong lead-out.
"On top of that, we are ready to take opportunities as they come and on the hillier stages we will look to profit from the breakaway possibilities with Tobias [Ludvigsson]. So we will focus on day results rather than the general classification."
LINE-UP
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Koen de Kort (NED)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Zico Waeytens (BEL)
Max Walscheid (GER)
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