Colombian Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) opened his participation in the 2023 Tour of Poland on the right foot this Saturday, with third place on the first day, after a 183.7-kilometre journey starting and ending in the town of Poznán.
The victory corresponded to the Belgian Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) who prevailed in a close sprint to the Dutch Olav Kooijv (Jumbo-Visma) and the brilliant sprinter from Antioquia, who seeks to refine his legs to reach the World Championship in the best possible way Glasgow 2023. His last competition had been the Giro d’Italia.
Merlier dressed in the first leader’s jersey in a competition that is held as a great preamble to the end of the season with the unified world contest and the Tour of Spain. The also Colombian Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) entered with the main lot without giving up time with his rivals for the general classification.
“Good start for Fernando Gaviria in the Tour of Poland. Today, Saturday, in a sprint, with sections of persistent rain, held in Poznán (…) Tomorrow, Sunday, the steepest stage in Karpacz” the Movistar Team stated on its twitter account.
The Tour of Poland is the last WorldTour race before the World Cup; in fact, it will conclude two days before the Glasgow road test. This year he has introduced some changes in the design of his route, always with medium mountains, hard ramps and a decisive CRI of 16 kilometers in Katowice (6th stage; Thursday, August 3).
Before reaching that day at the stopwatch, the peloton will face long kilometers and quite a demand. The high end of Karpacz (2nd stage; Sunday 30) stands out, after 203 km and two other scoring ascents; the arrival at the top of Duszniki-Zdrój (3rd stage; Monday 31), surpassing Zeleniec (2nd) before the finish line; and the always exciting final circuit of Bielsko-Biała (5th stage; Wednesday 2).