Cycling: ‘Tour Of Poland Will Be Tough’

This year’s Tour of Poland promises to be far tougher than the 2011 edition, with a 1 234.7-kilometre course giving climbers plenty to get their teeth into, the race’s boss Czeslaw Lang has said.

“There’s going to be no lack of sporting emotion,” said Lang, who has drawn a record 25 teams and 200 riders, the largest-ever peloton in a Polish stage race.

“It’s going to be much harder than last year. There are basically two flat stages, and the rest will either be on tough mountains or very hilly terrain,” he said, unveiling the route of the 2012 edition, which runs from July 10 to 16.

The three opening stages and the seventh and final one of last year’s Tour were on the flat, and all won by rising German sprint star Marcel Kittel.

The 2011 Tour started near Warsaw before heading south to the Polish highlands, where ultimate winner Peter Sagan of Slovakia took the lead.

This year’s 69th edition – starting three weeks early to avoid clashing with the London Olympics – will stick to the south near the Czech and Slovak borders.