Kwiatkowski eyes world title in Spain

Michał Kwiatkowski: photo - Sławek/Wikimedia Commons

Michal Kwiatkowski highlighted his continuing good form at the Tour of Britain in September, when he won the white jersey as best young rider, following on from a breakthrough win at the Strade Bianche in Italy in the spring, third place on the podium in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège one-day classic as well as a third place at La Flèche Wallonne and fifth in the Amstel Gold Race.

The 24 year-old, who rides for the Omega Pharma-Quick Step trade team, is a good all rounder, with a fast sprint and good on the climbs.

The course for Sunday's UCI Men's World Road Race Championship in Ponferrada, Spain, is perfectly suited to Kwiatkowski's talents, featuring two climbs that have to be tackled several times on the circuit: the Alto de Montearenas, which is 5.1 kilometres long but with an average gradient of just 3.5 percent and then the stiffer Alto de Compostilla: just 1,100 metres in length but pitches up to 10 percent in places.

Kwiatkowski's main rivals on Sunday will be Simon Gerrans (Australia), Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Dan Martin (Ireland), Romain Bardet (France) and John Degenkolb, who leads the German team, among others.

Polish fans are hoping that Kwaitkowski can add a world title to the King of the Mountains jersey won by Rafal Majka in the Tour de France in July and a win at the Tour of Poland in August.

Kwiatkowski has a strong Polish team in support, as Poland emerges as a force in world cycling.

The full nine-man team includes Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale), Michał Gołaś (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) - who won a stage at the Vuelta a Espana earlier this month - Tinkoff-Saxo’s Paweł Poljański, Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura), Tour of Norway winner Maciej Paterski (CCC Polsat Polkowice), Michał Podlaski (ActiveJet Team) and Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Łukasz Wiśniowski. (pg)