August 6, 2026
It's been a long few days but the peloton will finally reach the South of Poland by the end of today's 162 km stage. The character of the first 115 km after leaving Żagań will greatly resemble the previous three days but once the riders reach Kwieciszowice, the complexion will change. The first KOM of the day is situated in the foothills of the Karkonosze Mountains with a 1.5 km, 7.6% climb to Antoniow. The road continues to roll towards an intermediate sprint at the Hotel Golebiewski with 19.5 km remaining. The road to Karpacz begins to rise a few kilometers later for a 7 km ascent at over 6%. A very short descent off the top will bring the riders into Karpacz itself before a 1 km rise to the finish line that averages over 8%. It's a very punchy finale and anyone with hopes of taking overall honors at the end of the week will have to be in mix at the end of today's stage.
Race Summary
A bit of heat settled into Western Poland and the riders set off under temperatures of 33C (91F). Straight away after KM0, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla and Matteo Malucelli of XDS-Astana followed an attack by two of the Polish National Team, Patryk Stosz and Tobiasz Pawlak. When the gap reached 2 minutes, UAE-XRG started riding with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sitting behind for support.
Long roads through intermittent forests, small villages, and patches of cultivated land continually gave the riders something different to look at as they made their way South with an expanding gap of 3 minutes. Rune Herregodts controlled the break by himself for the first 70 km but as the riders entered lumpier terrain, more teams moved forward to position for more twisting and narrow roads. Herregodts resumed his work and was able to hold the gap remarkably stable at 3 minutes.
With 60 km to go, the break crested a little rise through recently bailed hay fields and saw ahead a dark storm cloud that was pounding rain. They started the Antoniow shortly after on wet roads that pitched up to 12% right from the bottom which was a cruel change after spending hours churning on the big ring. De Bondt took the points at the top with a reduced gap of 2 minutes as Herregodts was replaced by the fresh legs of Juan Sebastián Molano and the train of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sitting alongside. At 50 km to go, the break hit all wet roads and drops were peppering the camera lens.
Coming off of a large road and into a narrow left, a crash in the peloton saw more than 20 riders come down with plenty more stuck behind. Pre-race favorite João Almeida and at least three of his UAE-XRG teammates came down which was a big blow for the team. The race jury neutralized the riders in the break and then stopped the front of the peloton to allow the ambulance and crashed riders to rejoin. There was a lot of conversation and debate which halted the race for an exceptionally long time. It was decided to cut around 15 km from the stage but the main climb to Karpacz and the final 1 km drag would stay on the route. The jury let the break go and the peloton around 2 minutes later and both groups went off sprinting. The calculation had changed with less distance to catch the break so the four leaders were full of belief that they might be able to take the day.
With UAE-XRG seemingly out of the game, NSN Cycling came forward along with Decathlon CMA CGM and Netcompany-Ineos to form a chase which was more of a battle for position amongst themselves. It was a real drag race for every corner but the break arrived at a right turn with 11.5 km to go leading onto a narrow road and the base of the climb with 80 seconds left of their original advantage. The gap tumbled as the gradients increased and 45 seconds was all that was left with 10 km to go.
Stosz and De Bondt were the last two remaining but the pace put on by Bahrain Victorious was far too fast and the pair were brought back just inside 8 km to go. The first attacks came moments later from Tijmen Graat of Visma-Lease a Bike. Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling jumped to come across and he had Graat's teammate, Bart Lemmen, for company. Christian Scaroni of XDS-Astana bridged across a 13 second gap to join at 2 km from the top just as Graat was getting distanced. Scaroni was suffering as was Brenner and with 4.5 km to go, Lemmen pushed a bit more power through the pedals and created a gap.
The joint forces of Scaroni and Brenner almost drew Lemmen back in but the Dutchman was a quicker descender and he railed the wet corners to build an advantage of around 10 seconds by the start of the final ramp at 1 km to go. Lemmen flew up the first 500 meters and was extending his lead but Scaroni fought the entire way and paced his effort perfectly for the full kilometer. The gap was down to 5 seconds at 200 meters to go and Lemmen was starting to pedal squares. Scaroni sprinted through to 100 meters to go and was nearly on Lemmen's back wheel at 50 meters. The last corner pitched up and Lemmen gave one last burst of power which was just enough to get him across the line before Scaroni to take his first professional victory. Only after crossing the finish line did Lemmen celebrate by raising his arms which is when we saw the blood on his elbow from being involved in the mass crash earlier on. In the race for third, Brenner nearly hung on but Axel Laurance of Netcompany-Ineos caught the German and pipped him on the line 14 seconds after Lemmen. A few riders came in at 16 and 20 seconds but the majority of GC favorites were at 21 seconds and still in the game with three difficult days to come.
Lemmen assumes race leadership by 6 seconds over Scaroni and 26 seconds over Brenner but the next 20 riders in GC are only a further 7 seconds back.