After twice taking second in the Tour de Pologne, Spain’s Jon Izaguirre (Movistar Team) finally claimed the outright victory in the week-long stage race, by a small but decisive margin of two seconds over Bart de Clercq (BEL, Lotto Soudal) and three seconds ahead of BMC Racing Team’s Ben Hermans (BEL).

With a tightly clustered overall classification up until the last stage, only the final, largely flat 25 kilometre time trial in Crakow on Saturday could resolve the outcome of the 2015 Tour de Pologne. Finally a seventh place for Jon Izaguirre, already second overall in 2013 and 2014, as well as seventh in 2012, proved sufficient for the Spaniard to claim his first victory since taking the National Road-Race title in Ponferrada in 2014.

After the two hilliest stages had seen first Bart de Clercq and then Sergio Henao (COL, Team Sky) move into the lead for 24 hour spells, finally Izaguirre proved the strongest allrounder when it most counted overall.

“Winning any WorldTour event is a very important occasion and in my case it also is the first time I’ve won a week-long stage race, too,” added the 26-year-old Izaguirre, who led the Tour de Pologne for a day in 2013. “Doing that in the Tour de Pologne where I’ve come so close before not once, but twice, is even more special.

“I knew I should do a good final time trial, I’d checked out the course beforehand, and I’ve finally got that win.

“I’m sorry for De Clercq, and a difference of two seconds between us. I know how hard it is lose by such a small margin because it happened to me when I lost by exactly that time gap last year here in Poland to Rafa Majka (Tinkoff Saxo). This year, for me, it’s a different story.”

In the overall individual classification of the UCI WorldTour, there were no changes in the first eleven places, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) still leading with 532 points ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky) with 422. The two significant changes in the top 20, in fact, were for Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team), who has moved up from 15th to 12th overall thanks to his fifth place overall in the Tour de Pologne, and for Tour de Romandie winner Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha Team), whose fourth place in the same race sees him jump 11 places, to 19th overall.

In the UCI WorldTour Nations Classification, Spain has added nearly 90 points to its overall total, increasing its lead to 1,582 points, whilst runners-up Great Britain remain with 973 points. Italy are the only squad to advance in terms of places, though, in the top ten, moving from sixth to fourth overall with 759 points, seven points clear of Australia.

Whilst Spain are looking all but unbeatable in the Nations Classification, the battle for supremacy in the WorldTour Teams Ranking is far from certain. Both Team Sky, the leaders and Movistar Team, their closest pursuer, have gained points in the Tour de Pologne, but Movistar’s final victory now place the Spanish squad, with 1,242 points, a mere four points behind the Britons, who have 1,246. Third are Katusha, with 1,130 points, but for now it looks more likely that either Movistar Team or Team Sky will be the outright winners in October.

The next event on the UCI WorldTour is the EnecoTour, starting August 10th and finishing August 16th. Last year Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) created his own small piece of history by becoming the first ever Belgian to win the EnecoTour and this year he will be aiming to join Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen and Spain’s Jose Ivan Gutierrez as the only riders to have taken the seven stage race more than once since it began in 2005.

Starting in Bolsward in Holland, after three initially flatter stages, a 14 kilometre individual time trial on stage four at Hoogerheide on Wednesday will likely establish a first clear general classification leader. Then stage five’s eighteen short, punchy climbs in Amstel Gold territory in southern Holland will doubtless provide a further significant shake up of the race.

Stage six from Heerlen to Houffalize, at 208.6 kilometres, takes the race deep into the southern Ardennes, an area well-known to Liège-Bastogne-Liège fans. Once again peppered with difficult, short climbs, it is arguably the toughest stage of the entire event. The final stage from St-Pieters-Leeuw to Geraardsbergen then pays homage to yet another major Classic, the Ronde van Vlaanderen/Tour des Flandres, covering many of its cobbled climbs or bergs.

Whilst Wellens will return to defend his 2014 title, the race’s two joint record holders for stage wins, André Greipel (LottoSoudal) and Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) with six victories apiece, will both be present, too on Monday’s start line. Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) and team-mate Greg Van Avermaet are two more top names to follow, as is former winner Lars Boom (Astana Pro Team). All in all, a star-studded cast for one of the most technically challenging stage races on the UCI WorldTour calendar.