South African champion leads NTT charge at Tour of Poland

NTT Pro Cycling will line up for the five-stage race, with South African champion Ryan Gibbons leading.

The first UCI World Tour stage race of the restarted cycling season will be the Tour of Poland from August 5 to 9.

The 2020 edition of the Tour of Poland has seen its stage count reduced from the usual seven stages to five stages.
This to accommodate the reshuffling of the professional cycling calendar, which was necessary after the pandemic put a halt to racing for most of this year.

The race still provides options for both sprinters and climbers, with three stages suiting the fast men and two stages characterised with numerous sharp punchy climbs.

Gibbons will be taking aim at stages one, two and five, while teammates Ben King, Enrico Gasparotto, Stefan de Bod, Samuele Battistella, Gino Mader and Dylan Sunderland will all be hoping for good legs on the hilly terrain in the south of Poland.

Gibbons said: “After six months without racing, I am looking forward to getting the season underway once again at the Tour of Poland.  “No doubt the entire peloton is going to be eager to race, and I am certain this will translate into the Tour of Poland being raced at an extremely high level.

“One look at the start list and you immediately see numerous grand tour and major classic contenders. This is going to make getting a good result here as equally desirable as it will be difficult.

“Our team for Poland is strong and versatile, and while not built to be leading out the sprints, we will play off some of the other teams in the pure sprints. The tougher the stages are the more it can suit our team and play into our favour.”