ProTeam Sylvain Moniquet: “I really surprised myself during the Tour de Pologne.”

Moniquet 11th overall, KOM jersey for Jarrad Drizners.
Race 05 August 2022

Today the curtain fell over the 79th Tour de Pologne with a bunch sprint in the streets of Kraków, won by Frenchman Arnaud Démare. During the seven days of racing in Poland, Lotto Soudal could not clinch a stage victory but can look back on an offensive Tour de Pologne, in which the team joined several breakaways and Jarrad Drizners went home with the KOM jersey, which the young Australian took over from his teammate Kamil Malecki on the final day of racing. At the end of the Tour de Pologne closing stage – the first race following months of rehabilitation for the Australian neo-pro – Drizners could step onto the podium to collect the best climber’s jersey.

“It was great to be back racing with the team”, says Jarrad Drizners. “I didn’t have much expectations but if I already had some, they definitely were exceeded this week. Getting back into the race rhythm felt really good and today’s breakaway just made it really special. Ideally, Kamil would be in it but I followed a move and suddenly found myself at the front. So I kind of felt the pressure of bringing home the KOM jersey, our main objective for today. I was really pleased to have the legs to do so and it’s really nice finishing Tour de Pologne in this way. It was really special to do this on the day of Bjorg passing away three years ago. Even if I didn’t meet him personally, I want to dedicate this to him.

The general classification of the Tour de Pologne was mainly decided on the steep climb at the end of stage three and the mountain time trial on day six. Partly due to a strong performance in the time trial, 24-year-old Sylvain Moniquet ends his first Tour de Pologne in 11th place overall.

“The goal was to do a good GC here and I am really happy with my performance in the ITT”, said Sylvain Moniquet. “It wasn’t a very selective Tour de Pologne so it would mostly come down to the time trial, which I’ve prepared really well. I calculated where I had to go full gas and I could divide my effort well. It’s the first time that I go all out in an ITT to get a nice GC result and I really surprised myself to be honest. At first I didn’t think I had set such a good time but when I saw the final time I was really happy. I am only a little bit disappointed to be just outside the top ten overall but I will go home from the Tour de Pologne with a nice feeling. With the team going on the attack everal stages and the KOM jersey for Jarrad at the end, we can be happy. This was my first race after the altitude team training camp but the shape is definitely there. This is promising for my next races: Tour de l’Ain and Deutschland Tour.”

Image: Photo News.

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