Poland

Tour de Pologne

3 Aug - 9 Aug 2019

TEAM Pro Team

CITY Various

STAGES 7

TEAM Pro Team CITY Various STAGES 7

Video

Charles Planet won the first King of the Mountains jersey Tour de Pologne and got Team Novo Nordisk off to a brilliant start in the seven-stage World Tour race! See how “Mr. Breakaway” stood on top of the podium in Kraków in our Stage 1 recap video.

Gallery

(Photo: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 1

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 1

Start/Finish: Kraków/Kraków

Distance: 132.3 kilometers

Kraków, Poland — Team Novo Nordisk celebrated their return to Tour de Pologne with a brilliant performance on the opening stage by Charles Planet who went in the day’s breakaway and won the first King of the Mountains jersey in the seven-stage World Tour race.

The short and relatively flat first stage of Tour de Pologne started and finished in Kraków and Team Novo Nordisk was committed to animate the race and show the #ChangingDiabetes jersey at the front.

Frenchman Charles Planet attacked from the gun and was joined by two riders from the Polish National team: Jakub Kaczmarek and Adrian Kurek. The trio received the green light from the peloton and successfully opened a three-minute gap in the early stages. With the King of the Mountains and Sprint jerseys up for grabs Planet set his sights on guaranteeing a podium at the end of the day and the 25-year-old Frenchman did not disappoint. Kurek took the intermediate sprint but he later crashed and returned to the peloton leaving the now two-riders breakaway alone at the front with 100 km to go.

Planet took the KOM at the top of the Cat-4 Lanckorona climb and shortly after doubled his tally in the Witanowice KOM with 56 kilometres to go. With the King of Mountains Jersey now secured Planet stamped his authority in the last climb in Kaszów making it a clean sweep before being caught by the peloton inside the final 15 km.

As the peloton took on the first of four laps of the final circuit in downtown Kraków the peloton was compact with our Italian fast man Andrea Peron well positioned in anticipation of the final sprint.

Unfortunately a crash in a corner with 3.5 km to go, that took down Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension Data) amongst others, split the group and Peron was left with a lot of ground to make up. Peron dug deep but had to settle for 27th position while Pascal Ackermann (BORA – hansgrohe) out-sprinted the competition to take the stage win and become the first general classification leader at the 76th edition of Tour de Pologne.

Planet did very well to finish in the peloton and sits in fourth position in the overall classification.

This Sunday the world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team will continue to show what’s possible with diabetes on stage 2 of Tour de Pologne, another flat stage that will start in Tarnowskie Góry and finish in Katowice over 152.7 km.

Charles Planet

“I was in the first move because knew it was a good opportunity for the team and for myself to get a jersey. When it’s a sprint finish I have no pleasure to stay in the peloton so I try my hardest to go in the breakaway. I was fighting really hard in the neutral before the start to be in position. I took a lot of risks in the first few corners and then I saw I had a gap along with two Polish riders.

They had the numbers so I was a bit concerned they would play that card in the fight for the jersey but I saw I was the strongest and was really confident. It was a perfect day, an amazing start for us and I’m really happy. Tomorrow the stage will be similar I will talk with my directors and discuss the plan.

This is a World Tour race and this is the King of the Mountains jersey. I will give my all to defend it for as long as possible. I will fight until I don’t have any legs left!”


Gallery:


Stage 1 Results:

1st – Pascal Ackermann (BORA- hansgrohe) – 2:57:58

2nd – Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) – “

3rd – Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck – Quick -Step) – “

27th – Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk) – “


(Photo: ©Tour de Pologne / ©René Vigneron)

Video

A monumental day at Tour de Pologne on stage 2 saw our Frenchman Charles Planet climb to 2nd in the GC, extend his lead on the KOM classification and seize the blue ‘Most Active rider’ jersey!

Join us behind-the-scenes and see how it all happened in this memorable day for Team Novo Nordisk and everyone affected by diabetes

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 2

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 2

Start/Finish: Tarnowskie Góry/Katowice

Distance: 153 kilometers

Katowice, Poland — Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet extended his lead in the King of the Mountains jersey, took the lead in the Blue Jersey for most active rider classification and climbed to second in the overall classification of Tour de Pologne after producing a stellar effort in the breakaway for the second day in a row on Stage two of the seven-day World Tour race.

As he took the start line in Tarnowskie Góry the 25-year-old Frenchman had his mind set on defending his pink KOM jersey and was quickly on the attack as the flag dropped. Once again Planet enjoyed the company of a rider from the Polish national team, this time it was Paweł Franczak who flew the flag for the home nation at the front of the race.

With two categorized climbs and three intermediate sprints on the menu the goal was primarily to extend his leadership in the pink jersey but the possibility to challenge for a second jersey was not lost on Planet who showed his grit and determination by contesting for both.

The duo quickly carved out and advantage of three minutes to the peloton and worked well together until the first intermediate sprint who went to Franczak with Planet wisely managing his strength and settling for second.

The gap started to come down ever so slightly but the two escapees successfully stayed away until the final circuit in Katowice. Despite the previous day’s effort Planet took both the KOM’s on offer and also scored maximum points in the second intermediate sprint to propel himself to the top of the leaderboard in the Blue Jersey competition. As the race entered the first of three laps in the final 19km circuit in Katowice the sprinter’s teams quickly went into action and Planet and his breakaway companion were eventually reeled in with less than 15 km to go.

Ultimately Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton – Scott) sealed the stage victory after a hectic bunch sprint finale which saw Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) taking second place and the yellow jersey and stage one winner Pascal Ackermann (BORA -hansgrohe) having to settled for third. Planet did very well to finish in the main group and narrowly missed out on taking the ownership of the yellow jersey. Our breakaway specialist now sits in second in the general classification, just one second shy of Ackermann who, had he not finished in the podium, would have relinquished the lead of the race to Planet.

Overall a dazzling day for Charles Planet and Team Novo Nordisk who lead two classifications in Tour de Pologne: the pink jersey for the King of the Mountains leader and the blue jersey for Most Active rider after another day showing what’s possible with diabetes at the front of the race.

The Tour de Pologne is due to continue tomorrow with the final flat stage in the 76th edition of the race, a 155.5km affair from Silesian Stadium in Chorzów to Zabrze, before the first mountain stage on Tuesday (August 6th).

Charles Planet:

“It was a super nice effort in the breakaway, I recovered really well last night and had super legs. For today I had one main goal and that was to to keep my KOM (King of the Mountains) jersey but at the same time I had another goal in my mind it was to get this blue jersey, the intermediate sprint jersey which at the end means the most combative jersey.

It’s just incredible to have two jerseys in a World Tour race. Yesterday it was already really nice day for the team to have the KOM jersey but now to get a second one. I have no words. I’m just really proud for me, for my team and for all the people affected by diabetes.”


Gallery:


Stage 2 Classification

1st – Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton – Scott) – 3:32:42

2nd – Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) – “

3rd – Pascal Ackermann (BORA- hansgrohe) – “

71th – Péter Kusztor (Team Novo Nordisk) – “


(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 3

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 3

Start/Finish: Chorzów/Zabrze

Distance: 150.5 kilometers

Katowice, Poland — Tragedy shrouded stage 3 of the Tour of Pologne with the devastating news that 22-year-old Bjorg Lambrecht of Lotto Soudal had died following a crash during the stage.

Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet extended his lead in the King of the Mountains jersey after another day on the breakaway and his teammate Andrea Peron sprinted to 8th place on stage 3.

Clad in in the pink “King of the Mountains” jersey Planet, who also started the stage in the lead of the most active rider competition, showed his fighting spirit by going on the attack for the third day in the row and successfully making the breakaway.

This time the 25-year-old Frenchman had Adrian Kurek (Polish National Team) and Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom Rusvelo) for company. The trio extracted themselves from the peloton in the early stages and quickly opened a gap of over three minutes. With a bunch finale on the horizon the World Tour Teams were content to settle into a controlled race and Planet made the most of the opportunity at hand to take the only KOM up for grabs as well as winning the intermediate sprint, virtually placing himself in the Yellow Jersey.

Meanwhile in the bunch a crash took down two Team Novo Nordisk riders, Joonas Henttala and David Lozano, respectively but both were able to get back on their bikes and conclude the stage.

As the race entered the final circuit in Zabrze the sprinters teams drove the chase and the advantage of the escapees started to dwindle. As they entered the final lap the bunch was hot on their heels, 15 seconds adrift. Soon after Charles Planet crashed in a roundabout with less than six km to go and was taken out of contention in the fight for the stage win. Fortunately he was able to finish the stage and keeps both the KOM and blue “most active rider” jerseys.

In the bunch gallop Italian Andrea Peron sprinted to 8th and scored Team’s Novo Nordisk second Top-10 in a World Tour race, after taking 8th earlier in the season at Tour of California. Pascal Ackerman (BORA- hansgrohe) was declared the winner after Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) was relegated for irregular sprinting.

The day concluded with the tragic, heartbreaking news that Belgian Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto-Soudal) had passed away following a heavy crash earlier in the stage. A day of mourning for the cycling community.

Charles Planet:

“The day started well for us, with myself in the breakaway. I took the bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint and the KOM. At the end, I was feeling good but had a bad crash in the last 6 km. When I finished the stage I was told about the death of the Lotto Soudal rider. I saw him this morning and this is a big tragedy for cycling. I had a crash but I cannot complain about anything because the truth is I have no serious injuries, I just lost some skin and at the end of the day that is meaningless compared to what happened. The entire team and I are in big shock and this is a really terrible day.”


Gallery:


Stage 3 Classification

1st – Pascal Ackermann (BORA- hansgrohe) – 3:29:41

2nd – Danny Van Poppel (Team Jumbo-Visma) – “

3rd – Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) – “

8th – Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk) – “


(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Video

Stage 4 of Tour de Pologne was an emotional tribute to the memory of Bjorg Lambrecht who tragically passed away following a crash on stage 3.

Lotto-Soudal continues to be in our thoughts.

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 4

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 3

Start/Finish: Chorzów/Zabrze

Distance: 150.5 kilometers

Katowice, Poland — Tragedy shrouded stage 3 of the Tour of Pologne with the devastating news that 22-year-old Bjorg Lambrecht of Lotto Soudal had died following a crash during the stage.

Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet extended his lead in the King of the Mountains jersey after another day on the breakaway and his teammate Andrea Peron sprinted to 8th place on stage 3.

Clad in in the pink “King of the Mountains” jersey Planet, who also started the stage in the lead of the most active rider competition, showed his fighting spirit by going on the attack for the third day in the row and successfully making the breakaway.

This time the 25-year-old Frenchman had Adrian Kurek (Polish National Team) and Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom Rusvelo) for company. The trio extracted themselves from the peloton in the early stages and quickly opened a gap of over three minutes. With a bunch finale on the horizon the World Tour Teams were content to settle into a controlled race and Planet made the most of the opportunity at hand to take the only KOM up for grabs as well as winning the intermediate sprint, virtually placing himself in the Yellow Jersey.

Meanwhile in the bunch a crash took down two Team Novo Nordisk riders, Joonas Henttala and David Lozano, respectively but both were able to get back on their bikes and conclude the stage.

As the race entered the final circuit in Zabrze the sprinters teams drove the chase and the advantage of the escapees started to dwindle. As they entered the final lap the bunch was hot on their heels, 15 seconds adrift. Soon after Charles Planet crashed in a roundabout with less than six km to go and was taken out of contention in the fight for the stage win. Fortunately he was able to finish the stage and keeps both the KOM and blue “most active rider” jerseys.

In the bunch gallop Italian Andrea Peron sprinted to 8th and scored Team’s Novo Nordisk second Top-10 in a World Tour race, after taking 8th earlier in the season at Tour of California. Pascal Ackerman (BORA- hansgrohe) was declared the winner after Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) was relegated for irregular sprinting.

The day concluded with the tragic, heartbreaking news that Belgian Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto-Soudal) had passed away following a heavy crash earlier in the stage. A day of mourning for the cycling community.

Charles Planet:

“The day started well for us, with myself in the breakaway. I took the bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint and the KOM. At the end, I was feeling good but had a bad crash in the last 6 km. When I finished the stage I was told about the death of the Lotto Soudal rider. I saw him this morning and this is a big tragedy for cycling. I had a crash but I cannot complain about anything because the truth is I have no serious injuries, I just lost some skin and at the end of the day that is meaningless compared to what happened. The entire team and I are in big shock and this is a really terrible day.”


Gallery:


Stage 3 Classification

1st – Pascal Ackermann (BORA- hansgrohe) – 3:29:41

2nd – Danny Van Poppel (Team Jumbo-Visma) – “

3rd – Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) – “

8th – Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk) – “


(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Video

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 5

Race: Tour de Pologne, Stage 5

Start/Finish: Wieliczka/Bielsko-Biała

Distance: 153.8 kilometers

Zakopane, Poland — Charles Planet extended his lead in the “Most Active Rider” classification after yet another stellar breakaway performance on stage 5 of Tour de Pologne.

For the fourth time in five days, and despite injuries sustained in a crash on stage 3, Frenchman Charles Planet showed his fighting spirit by going all in for the breakaway. After a flurry of attacks, Szymon Rekita (Polish National Team) and Kamil Gradek (CCC Pro Team) opened a gap of over 30 seconds to the peloton. At this point Planet jumped from the main field and successfully bridged across to the front solo.

The trio was later joined by Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) and the day’s breakaway was formed. Knowing that he would inevitably relinquish the King of the Mountains jersey over the coming climbing stages and still recovering from injuries sustained in a crash on stage 3, the 25-year-old Frenchman made the tactical decision not to contest the KOM’s on offer and focus his energy on the intermediate sprints with the aim to extend his lead in the blue jersey competition.

The quartet worked hard to open up a four-minute lead but the peloton wasn’t keen on letting the advantage expand further and brought it down to under two minutes with 100 km to go.

After the two Cat-2 climbs, Planet successfully took the first intermediate sprint before a sudden increase of tempo in the bunch sentenced the faith of the escapees, who were shortly after swallowed by the peloton on final Cat 1 climb, approximately 40 km from the finish line.

As the race was approaching the finishing circuit in Bielsko—Biała, new attacks were launched off the front of the field but ultimately brought back before the final gallop which saw Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton- SCOTT) outspent the competition and take the second stage win n the 76th edition of Tour de Pologne.

Two-time Hungarian national champion Peter Kusztor crossed the finish line in 76th position as the best-placed Team Novo Nordisk rider on the day.

The world’s first all-diabetes pro-cycling team will take on the first of the two decisive climbing stages of Tour de Pologne this Thursday, a 160km affair starting in Zakopane and finishing in Kościelisko, with no less than seven Cat-1 climbs on the menu.

Charles Planet:

“My plan was to be once again in the breakaway, since there were two intermediate sprints for the blue jersey, and my goal is to fight for this jersey till the end of the race.

Today, there was a great fight for the breakaway and I wasn’t sure if I would make it. Two guys went away and I decided to jump, even though there was a big gap already.

I have a big opportunity to take a jersey, and suffering is for a short time but regret lasts forever. So I attacked and bridged across.

I then had to make a decision: fight for the blue jersey over the King of the Mountain. So I focused on fighting for the the Most Active Rider jersey, instead of going for two jerseys and risk losing everything. So I’m really happy I could take one of the sprints and increase my lead in this classification”


Gallery:


Stage 5 Classification

1st – Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-SCOTT) – 3:49:55

2nd – Eduard Prades (Movistar Team) – “

3rd – Ben Swift (Team INEOS) – “

76th – Peter Kusztor (Team Novo Nordisk) – 0:01:02


(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 6

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 6

Start/Finish: Zakopane/Kościelisko

Distance: 160 kilometers

Zakopane, Poland — Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet overcame a harrowing climbing day and kept a firm grip on the Blue “Most Active Rider” jersey with one stage to go in the 76th edition of Tour de Pologne.

Starting in the ski resort of Zakopane the penultimate stage of the Polish World Tour race offered no less than seven Cat-1 climbs and over 4000m of climbing on the menu. After four nearly consecutive breakaway performances and still recovering from a crash on stage 3, Planet was focused on managing his effort and safely finish the day, thereby keeping the solid lead in the “Most Active Rider” competition.

After nearly an hour of successive breakaway attempts and a very hard tempo that resulted in several splits in the peloton, four riders opened a respectable three minutes gap. Peter Kusztor showed his climbing pedigree by staying in the main field until three laps to go, while his Team Novo Nordisk teammates rode in support of Planet, several minutes in arrears.

In the penultimate climb, with 16 km to go Ben Swift (Team INEOS) launch a solo attack and rode solo until 6 km to go when he was caught by a select group of three riders: Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos), and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

The trio ended up sprinting for the win and Vingegaard took a convincing win in the finishing uphill drag to the line and seized the lead in the general classification standings.

Two-times Hungarian national champion Peter Kusztor finished in 47th position as the best placed Team Novo Nordisk rider on the day while Planet rode efficiently and crossed the finishing line with three of his teammates to keep a firm grip on the “Most Active Rider” competition.

With only three intermediate sprints to fight for in the final stage Charles Planet only has to conclude the race to climb onto the final podium and bring home the Blue Jersey.

Tour de Pologne concludes this Friday with a 153km mountainous stage from Bukovina Resort to Bukowina Tatrzańska.

Charles Planet:

“It was a really hard stage around Zakopane with five laps, that included two big climbs each time. We started climbing right from the gun. I went as hard as I could on the first climb and them I just found my group and managed my effort to the finish. After four days in the breakaway and a big crash I just focused on finding my pace and surviving the day. It was really tough but I had a lot of help from my teammates. They were amazing and I have to thank all of them. Now I have enough points to keep this jersey tomorrow.”


Gallery:


Stage 6 Classification

1st – Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) – 3:49:55

2nd – Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos)  –  “

3rd – Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb)-  “

47th – Peter Kusztor (Team Novo Nordisk) – 0:15:02


(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

Video

“This jersey represents exactly who I am. The most active rider is what I always try to be, and it’s how I want to race.”

Charles Planet reflects on winning the “Lotto Most Active Rider” jersey at Tour de Pologne, the first jersey in a World Tour race for the team and a milestone achievement its seven-year history.

Gallery

(Photos: ©René Vigneron)

2019 Tour de Pologne - Stage 7

Race: Tour de Pologne – Stage 7

Start/Finish: Bukovina Resort/Bukowina Tatrzańska

Distance: 153 kilometers

Bukowina, Poland — Team Novo Nordisk achieved a major milestone as Charles Planet won the “Lotto Most Active Rider” jersey in the 76th edition of Tour de Pologne, the first jersey in a World Tour race for the team in its seven year history.

The 25-year-old Frenchman seized the lead in the blue jersey competition on the second stage after going in the breakaway for the second consecutive day and successfully defended it until the final stage in the Tatra Mountains, claiming the biggest achievement of his professional career.

Planet, who also wore the pink “King of the Mountains” jersey during five stages, showed his fighting spirit from day one in Krakow and raced aggressively all week, featuring in no less than four breakaways during the seven-stage Polish race.

With five Cat-1 KOM’s and over 3500 meters of climbing in the cards, the final stage served up another savage day in the saddle and Team Novo Nordisk had but one goal at the start line: support Planet in concluding the stage within the time limit and stand on top of the podium as the race’s “Most Active Rider”.

The stage was won by Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) who was part of the early breakaway of 14-riders and launched a fierce attack in the closing 30km to claim a convincing solo victory.

Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) finished in 15th place, enough to take the overall win in Tour de Pologne.

Team Novo Nordisk put in an amazing collective effort and Planet dug deep into his reserves and survived the relentless 153 km-long stage to capture the blue jersey, symbol of the most attacking rider in the race.

Planet dedicated this unprecedented achievement to his team and teammates but also to the Belgian Lotto-Soudal rider Bjorg Lambrecht who died tragically this week after a fatal crash on stage 3 of Tour de Pologne.

In addition to winning the blue jersey the world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team made headlines during the race by seizing and wearing the KOM jersey for four days and taking an 8th placing on stage 3 with Andrea Peron. The 30-year-old Italian matched the team’s previous best result in a World Tour race, an equal 8th place in the final stage of this year’s edition of Tour of California.

CHARLES PLANET

“I’m so proud to win this Most Active Rider jersey. It’s been an amazing week from day one in Krakow in the breakaway, followed by other three stages in the breakaway.

I hope I really inspire all the people with diabetes here in Poland and all around the world. I made a lot of friends here, the crowds were amazing and I heard my name so many times on the road.

I’m so happy for my team and so proud of my teammates. They helped me a lot. These last two stages were really tough for me after the crash and we managed as a team really well.

This jersey represents exactly who I am. The most active rider is what I always try to be, it’s how I want to race, to go in breakaways, to fight for jerseys and for wins. This is the biggest achievement of my career so far and I’m so happy to finish the Tour de Pologne on this high note. This jersey is also for Bjorg (Lambrecht). He was in my head and in my heart the last few days and this is also for this rider, for his family and for Lotto Soudal”


Gallery:


2019 Tour de Pologne General Classification:

1st: SIVAKOV Pavel Sivakov (Team INEOS):  26:20:58

2nd: Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb): 0:02 behind Sivakov

3rd: Diego Ulissi (UAE-Team Emirates): 0:12

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