Tour of Poland 2026 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

August 9, 2026

83rd Tour de Pologne 2026 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 7 ITT – Wieliczka – Wieliczka : 12,5 km

Tour of Poland is a UCI WorldTour stage race run across varied terrain that can include flat sprint stages, rolling roads, and selective mountain finishes. The route often moves through open countryside and urban circuits, with exposed stretches where wind can split the field and tighter finales that demand careful positioning. Riders face a mix of physical and tactical challenges, from long transfers of effort on fast road sections to sharper climbs that force repeated accelerations and test recovery. The race dynamics shift by stage, with sprinters’ teams controlling flatter days, breakaway riders seeking time on rolling terrain, and general classification contenders waiting for the harder uphill finishes or time trials. Typical stages may feature 3–5 categorized climbs, technical corners, and decisive closing kilometers that reward precision as much as power. Finishes can come down to bunch sprints, reduced groups, or late attacks, depending on how selective each day becomes.

Stefan Küng and Marco Brenner took a pair of wins on the final day of the Tour de Pologne on Sunday, winning the stage and general classification respectively.

For Küng it was a first time trial win since the Chrono de Nations late in 2024, while for Brenner the win was his first stage race general classification and only the third victory of his career. Having started the day in sixth place overall, Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) put in an excellent ride to finish second overall, while Iván Roomeo (Movistar) was third.

Brenner’s win was built on the back of consistency through the seven stage race, the German rider finishing fourth, second and third on the three toughest days of the race and starting the day fourth on the general classification.

Küng broke his leg at Omloop Nieuwsblad in February and only returned to competition at the Swiss nationals in June, this week being his first race since then. His winning time of 14:25 sealed the deal, while Fisher-Black was second while his teammate Callum Thornley was third.

The 12.5km individual time trial saw a number of riders take the lead, no one setting a dominant early time. but the day was all about the GC, with the top 19 riders on GC all within one minute of the overnight leader Christain Scaroni (XDS-Astana). The Italian was unable to defend his place though, finishing seventh on the day.

How it unfolded
For its seventh and concluding stage, the 2026 Tour de Pologne set the riders a 12.5km individual time trial, starting and finishing at the salt mine in Wieliczka. It was uphill almost from the start gate, the day’s highest point coming after 4km, though the gradient to that point averaged only 3%.

While most of the remaining kilometres were downhill, there was little in the way of technicality, with only five sharp corners, including two roundabouts in the final 1,200m. This made the day one for the pure TT specialists, and with the top 19 on GC separated by less than a minute, a shakeup of the leaderboard was likely.

Gerben Thijssen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was first down the ramp, setting a time of 16:25, though he was quickly eclipsed by Sam Welsford, the Netcompany-Ineos rider stopping the clock at 14:51. Having set the early benchmark at the intermediate timing point, Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling) was unable to challenge the Australian’s time, losing 14 seconds to Welsford in the second half of the course.

Welsford’s teammate, Artem Shmidt set a blistering time at the intermediate, briefly leading the race at the finish. This set a stream of new leaders, with former Luxembourg champion Arthur Kluckers leading before Scotsman Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) stopped the clock in 14:29, and time trialling legend Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling) beat him by just over four seconds.

The later part of the race was all about the GC, with Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) briefly threatening to win the overall.

Results :

Final General Classification :