Marco Brenner wins 83rd Tour de Pologne as teammate Stefan Küng takes final time trial in Wieliczka

Race overview

The 83rd Tour de Pologne covered over 1,100 kilometres across seven stages from 3 to 9 August, starting at the Gdynia Aquarium and finishing at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. A field of 147 riders across 21 teams set off on 3 August, after a presentation aboard the destroyer ORP Błyskawica the previous day. The race followed a north-to-south route under the slogan "Północ - Południe" (North - South), with sprinters dominating the early flat stages before the general classification battle intensified in the mountains. As in the 2025 edition, the general classification was ultimately decided on the final-day time trial at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, where Brandon McNulty had turned the race in his favour a year earlier.

Early stages

Italian track Olympic champion Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won the first three stages in Koszalin, Szczecin and Zielona Góra, wearing the leader's jersey throughout. When the terrain turned upward, Dutch rider Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike) took the lead on the Karpacz stage and held it for two days, surviving through stage five, which was won by Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates). The penultimate stage in Bukowina Tatrzańska reshuffled the standings: Louis Barre (Visma | Lease a Bike) took the stage win, and Italian Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) seized the yellow jersey with a three-second advantage over Barre and five seconds over Lemmen. Before the final time trial, 18 riders sat within a minute of Scaroni.

Final time trial

The 12.5-kilometre individual time trial in Wieliczka, starting with a 1.5-kilometre climb before flattening toward the finish, decided the overall standings. Brenner sat fourth before the stage, 11 seconds behind Scaroni. Luxembourg road race champion Arthur Kluckers (Tudor) set an early benchmark of 14:35 that held for much of the afternoon, until Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) bettered it with 14:29. Tudor's Stefan Küng then posted the fastest time of 14:25, beating Fisher-Black and Thornley by four seconds. Küng, who broke his femur in February, wept at the finish line. In his first interview after crossing the line, he admitted that when the injury happened, he thought it was the end of his career.

Brenner crossed the line with the seventh-best time, 11 seconds behind Küng, but it was enough to take the overall lead. Fisher-Black, who had started the day sixth at 28 seconds, moved to second overall, 10 seconds behind Brenner. Ivan Romeo (Movistar) finished third, 16 seconds back. Bart Lemmen and Louis Barre both recorded times of 15:03 and dropped out of the podium places. Scaroni lost the jersey he had held for a single day.

Polish riders and classifications

Michał Kwiatkowski (Netcompany Ineos) was the best Polish rider in the time trial, finishing 31st, 36 seconds behind Küng. Filip Gruszczyński, riding for the Polish national team, was the highest-placed Polish rider in the general classification at 25th, 2:48 behind Brenner. The points classification went to Brenner himself, Walter Calzoni (Pinarello Q36.5) won the mountains classification, Radosław Frątczak (Polish national team) took the most active rider award, and Visma | Lease a Bike won the team classification.

Presidential ceremony

President Karol Nawrocki attended the final podium ceremony and personally presented the trophy to Brenner. Organisers described it as a first for the race, as no sitting Polish president had previously attended the Tour de Pologne finish despite earlier invitations.