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Monday, August, 10, 2026

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Tour of Poland Stage seven reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from Magnus Sheffield's Team Netcompany INEOS:

Magnus Sheffield set the fifth fastest time on the final stage as Tour de Pologne concluded with a time trial in Wieliczka.

The American finished just eight seconds off stage winner Stefan Kung (Tudor Pro Cycling) across the 12.5-kilometre course, and would be joined in the top-10 times by his teammate and compatriot.

American time trial champion Artem Schmidt was ninth in the stage. Sirotti photo

Resplendent in the US national champion's skinsuit, Artem Shmidt went down the ramp early and his time held up well for ninth place.

Sam Welsford also set a strong early time, ending the day 21st, while Axel Laurance led the team home on GC in 18th position.

Kung won the stage and his Tudor teammate Marco Brenner would jump up into the yellow jersey at the very last, claiming overall victory by 10 seconds over Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull - Bora- Hansgrohe).

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Here’s the Tour of Poland report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Louis Barré and Bart Lemmen narrowly missed out on a place on the final podium after the closing time trial at the Tour de Pologne. The two Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders finished the WorldTour stage race fourth and fifth overall. Stefan Küng took the stage win. Team Visma | Lease a Bike ends the race with two stage victories and the team classification win.

   

Team Visma | Lease a Bike won the Teams Classification. Sirotti photo

The final time trial was set to decide the Tour de Pologne. Barré started the day second overall, just three seconds behind GC leader Christian Scaroni. Lemmen was third, five seconds behind the Italian. The riders covered the 12.5-kilometer time trial in Wieliczka. 

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were unable to challenge for the stage win. Küng’s impressive fastest time could not be beaten. Ultimately, the times set by Barré and Lemmen were not enough to hold on to their second and third place positions in the overall standings. Marco Brenner claimed the overall victory. 

Sports director Robert Wagner looks back: “We had hoped to have one of our riders on the overall podium. We started the time trial from an excellent position, but ultimately had to settle for fourth and fifth place. It’s a pity to narrowly miss out on the podium, but we can look back on a successful week. Our goal was to win a stage this week, and we managed to do that twice. On top of that, we also won the team classification. The guys seized their opportunities over the past week, and they can be proud of that.”


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Here's the report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:

T-Rex Quick-Step concluded the Tour de Pologne by scoring another top ten, at the end of the 12.5km individual time trial that took place around the city of Wieliczka. The course was a flat one, with the exception of a 1.5km-long climb in the beginning, which didn’t pose too many problems to the specialists.

Ethan Hayter riding to eighth in the stage. Sirotti photo

One of the early riders to roll down the ramp, Ethan Hayter put together a solid ride, averaging over 51km/h Sunday afternoon, a result that saw him stop the clock in 13:38, for eighth place on this stage won by Stefan Kung (Tudor Pro Cycling). For the 27-year-old British Champion, it was the third top ten of the season in a World Tour ITT, after the ones in UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico.

In the general classification of this 83rd edition, Maximilian Schachmann concluded as T-Rex Quick-Step’s highest-ranked rider.


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And here's the final Tour of Poland report from Team Groupama-FDJ United:

This was clearly not the Tour de Pologne that the Groupama-FDJ United cycling team had hoped for. After a week of racing without any significant results, the French squad was hoping to turn things around with Rémi Cavagna in Sunday’s closing time trial. However, the French national time trial champion did not have the legs to challenge for more than a top-15 finish.

After six stages in which it had been unable to really get involved in the battle at the front, Groupama-FDJ United had high hopes for the final day of the Tour de Pologne on Sunday. The 12.5-kilometre time trial in Wieliczka was indeed a major objective for French time trial champion Rémi Cavagna, who had also finished third in the time trials at the UAE Tour and Giro d’Italia this season.

Team Groupama-FDJ United before the start of stage one. Sirotti photo

“There was a three-kilometre climb right from the start, then a flat section at the top, a long descent, followed by another flat section towards the finish,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “It was still a very fast time trial, and we expected the biggest gaps to be made in the first part.” Rémi Cavagna took to the start ramp shortly before 3 p.m. Unfortunately, the French rouleur struggled precisely on that opening section of the course. “He felt that his legs were heavy at the start, and getting into the rhythm was difficult,” Frédéric explained. “At this level, you simply cannot afford that. Over twelve kilometres, you have to be on it from the very beginning, especially with the opening climb. It took him some time to get going, and unfortunately that was reflected in the result.” At his arrival, Rémi Cavagna was 6th, ten seconds behind the provisional leader. At the end of the day, he slipped to 15th place, 17 seconds behind stage winner Stefan Küng. “It is obviously disappointing because we had high hopes for the time trial,” admitted Frédéric.

More generally, Groupama-FDJ United leaves Poland with a very small results tally. “It was certainly a comeback race for the whole group, but that was also the case for a large part of the peloton,” continued the team’s sports director. “We were hoping to be a little more present in this race, especially in terms of results. We were certainly active, with Enzo, Valentin and Rémi all getting into breakaways, but we never really had an impact in the finals and we are a long way from the top 10s we could have hoped for. In the sprint stages, the guys worked pretty well together, but there was no result to show for it. So we can say that those stages were missed opportunities.

"Then Rudy’s withdrawal following the massive crash deprived us of a key rider for the overall classification and the hilly stages. Valentin was not at 100% either, so it became difficult to fight at the front. At this level, it is difficult to make an impact when even the slightest setback gets thrown into the works. We certainly expected better results, but we must not give up. Some riders will now head towards the Vuelta, while others will go to Hamburg. We are turning the page on this race, hoping that it will still prove useful for what lies ahead. If we were unable to perform, then at the very least, this race needs to serve us for the future.”