Tour de Pologne 2021 – Stage 6 preview
By David Hunter
Katowice 19km ITT
A time trial to settle the GC.
This is a day for the specialists, the route is made for them. We’ve hardly got any climbing and most of the roads are nice and wide, this is a power course. The GC is quite tight, we could still see a lot of movement, especially the fight for the podium.
Weather
Another sunny day. The wind looks better for the later starters.
Contenders
João Almeida – the wins are flowing! This TT is brilliant for him, he’ll start as the favourite to win the stage and seal the yellow jersey. He’s clearly in fine form just now, I’m not sure any of the GC riders will get close to him.
Rémi Cavagna – of all the riders he has the best chance of beating Almeida to stage glory, but if the forecasts are correct and the wind drops for the later starters then he’ll be disadvantaged. His form on the TT bike this year has been very impressive, he’ll be hoping the wind stays the same for everyone.
Mikkel Bjerg – there have been recent signs that he’s eventually finding his TT legs in the professional peloton. Remember that Bjerg was exceptional in the under 23 ranks, nobody could get close to him. It’s surely just a matter of time until he takes his first win, possibly in this stage.
Matteo Sobrero – the Italian TT champion will be looking forward to wearing his new jersey for the first time. 4th in the final Giro TT shows just how strong he is and he’s spent most of this week saving his legs for this stage. He’ll be expecting to challenge for the win.
Michał Kwiatkowski – he’ll sense a chance to move onto the podium, but the yellow jersey is unlikely. He approached this race in good form, but he’s not been able to match up to Almeida in the uphill sprints. I doubt he can win this stage but a good time is required to move up the standings.
Matej Mohorič – not normally a TT contender, but his current form is off the scale. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Slovenian challenging for the win and securing 2nd place on GC.
Diego Ulissi – he’s good on his TT bike but likely to find himself off the podium by the end of the stage.
Prediction Time
Another win for João Almeida.
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