Place Name: Józefa Piłsudskiego
Address: Józefa Piłsudskiego 32b, 34-500 Zakopane, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
Details: August 8, 2025
Another 200KM+ stage is set for the fifth day of racing in Poland. The profile goes up and to the right as the riders leave the relative plains of Katowice and head South back to the border of Slovakia, gently climbing the entire way. The first categorized climb comes with 117KM to go. The Kocierz is 4.1KM at 7.3% and is the hardest climb of the day. The second and final categorized climb comes at the Przełęcz Krowiarki, an 8.6KM climb at 4.5% and tops out with 64KM to go. After the descent, the road starts to drag up through Jablonka and Ciche before the last climb of the day, an uncategorized climb of 4KM at 5.4%. It's the highest point in the stage at 1,100M above sea level and crests with just 10KM to go. The rest of the stage into Zakopane, a ski famous town in Poland, is downhill until the final 2KM which slopes up and could be yet another reduced sprint.
A small break got up the road on what was a warm and beautifully sunny day. Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla, Huub Artz of Intermarché-Wanty, and Martin Svrček of Soudal Quickstep led and with 170KM to go, they had built up a 5 minute 20 second lead with Decathlon AG2R and Visma-Lease a Bike chasing.
The break entered into the Tatra Mountain Range to take on the Kocierz climb. By the top with 117KM to go, the break had 6 minutes on the peloton with Decathlon AG2R still holding control. Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos came to the front to lend a hand to start bringing the gap down. With 85KM to go, EF-Education EasyPost and Lidl-Trek started to ride because the gap was persistent at 5 minutes 15 seconds. In the break, Artz crashed on a downhill with 81KM to go. He was a little rattled for the rest of the descent and had a big chase to get back on. He eventually made it back to the break 5KM later in the town of Zawoja but the gap had come down to 4 minutes 30 seconds in the process.
The landscape became much more wooded on the approach to the Przełęcz Krowiarki. It was a big ring climb suited to the peloton and by the top with 64KM to go, the gap had tumbled to just over 3 minutes. The peloton continued to whittle away at the gap through the valley between Jablonka and Ciche and with 35KM to go, the leaders had just 90 seconds. Picnic-PostNL, Bahrain Victorious, and XDS-Astana went to the front and started the drag race with the final mountains in the hazy distance.
The late Summer sun bathed the Saint Hyacinth church in Chochołów in a beautiful light but none of the riders would have noticed. They were too busy positioning and chasing the break, which had split down to just Artz and Plowright with 19KM to go. The road visibly tipped up with 15.5KM to go and 2KM later, Artz was alone at the front with 50 seconds. The bunch was all across the road until 13KM to go when Bahrain Victorious finally put on the pressure and caught Artz. Bahrain Victorious let off the gas for a moment and a few attacks went with Matthew Riccitello of Israel-Premier Tech and Jan Christen of UAE-XRG but they were back in the fold at the top with 10.5KM to go. Marco Frigo of Israel-Premier Tech attacked at the top but he was caught and dropped by Alberto Bettiol of XDS-Astana and Christen on the descent. At the bottom with 6KM to go, they had about 5 seconds back to the peloton that was still relatively large.
Bettiol and Christen had 15 seconds with 3KM to go as they made a right turn to start going slightly uphill on a 3-5% drag to the finish. Ineos were organized and chasing with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek sitting patiently near the front. The catch was made with 1,500M to go and it was Lidl-Trek who took up the pace. They kept it going until 300M from the line when Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike came from 10th wheel and blew passed. Ben Turner of Ineos tried to get on but Brennan came with a ton of speed and was able to hold it all the way to the line to take his ninth win of the season. Turner took second place with Andrea Bagioli of Lidl-Trek in for third.
The top spots in GC remained the same once again but we should see movement tomorrow in the final road stage of this year's race.
Tags: Tour de Pologne, 2025, August, Stage 5, Tour de Pologne 2025, Katowice, Zakopane, Jensen Plowright, Patrick Gamper, Huub Artz, Martin Svrček, Matthew Riccitello, Jan Christen, Marco Frigo, Alberto Bettiol, Matthew Brennan, Ben Turner, Andrea Bagioli