Team Giant-Alpecin heads to this year’s Tour de Pologne with the goal of winning a stage. The Polish race starts Sunday in Warsaw and features six stages on rolling and hilly terrain before concluding with a 25km individual time trial in Krakow. 

The team was quite successful at the last two editions of the Tour de Pologne, achieving various top-10 finishes, including 4th place on stage 2 with Ramon Sinkeldam (NED), 2nd on stage 3 with Luka Mezgec (SLO), 3rd on stage 4 with Mezgec, 5th on stage 5 with Warren Barguil (FRA), 7th on stage 6 with Barguil and 14th in the final GC with Barguil in 2014. In 2013 Georg Preidler (AUT) took 3rd on stage 2, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) 5th on stage 4 and Mezgec 4th on stage 5.

After a period of training, German sprinter Marcel Kittel will return to racing with a focus on obtaining good results in the sprints. Other riders in the Team Giant-Alpecin lineup are Nikias Arndt (GER), Bert De Backer (BEL), Caleb Fairly (USA), Luka Mezgec (SLO) and Tom Stamsnijder (NED), all of whom finished the Giro d’Italia. The roster is completed by Lawson Craddock (USA) and Johannes Fröhlinger (GER), who will both look forward to the hilly stages in Poland. 

Coach Addy Engels said: “Our goal is to go for the stages that end in a sprint. With Nikias, Marcel and Luka we have fast guys on board, and we also have a strong team to lead out the sprint. 

“With Lawson we will explore the possibility of doing a good GC, as he just left the team’s altitude camp and should be capable of that. There are some difficult stages, especially 5 and 6, with a sequence of short, steep climbs. It will be hard.

“The closing time trial will be decisive for the final GC. I expect that a very small group will remain to fight for the overall win in the time trial after the hard stages.”