Eight-day WorldTour race to follow Grand Tour example and begin in home region of 2012 winner
The 2013 edition of the Tour of Poland – the Tour de Pologne – will start in the Italian province of Trentino, Italy, the race organiser has announced. The eight-day race, between July 27th and August 3rd, will follow the example of the three Grand Tours – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – which often start outside their own countries’ borders. The Polish race will begin with two stages in northern Italy, in the home province of 2012 race winner Moreno Moser (pictured).
“The close relationship between Italy and Poland is determined not so much by the kilometres which separate the two nations, but by the cultural and historical aspects that tie these two great countries together,” read’s the race organiser’s press release.
Despite Italy and Poland being almost 1000km apart – with the countries of Austria and the Czech Republic in between – the deal between the Tour of Poland and the Trentino region has been made possible thanks to race sponsorship from Trentino Marketing, the province’s marketing company, since 2010.
The exact details of the two Italian stages will be announced at a press conference in the Krakow City Museum, in the city where the race has finished since 2008. It has been released that the third stage will begin in Krakow however, as the race arrives in its homeland; hinting at a possible change to the Tour’s finishing city next year.