In recent years, economic and social development has lead to many Eastern European countries joining the European Union. In a similar way, the Tour de Pologne has constantly grown and improved and is now one of the best races in the UCI ProTour. The week-long stage race has excellent television coverage and has attracted major sponsors who are keen to work with professional cycling in developing markets.
Importantly, the Tour de Pologne is much more than just a professional race. A mini Tour de Pologne is organised for more than 10,000 school children and a mass bike ride is organised on the eve of the race. Thanks to live television coverage and excellent in depth media coverage, the Tour de Pologne captures the attention of the whole country and many other nations in Eastern Europe.
The 2007 Tour de Pologne started with a team time trial, won by the Lampre team, and ended with overall victory by Belgium’s Johan Van Summeren.
The Tour de Pologne clashes with the Vuelta a España in September but many teams now seem to prefer riding the Eneco Tour and then the Tour de Pologne rather then spend three weeks in Spain. In 2008 the Tour of Pologne ends just a week before the world road race championships and so is a perfect way to prepare for a shot at the rainbow jersey.
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