Krakow: Former world champion Rui Costa will lead the charge for UAE Team Emirates at the upcoming Tour de Pologne (Tour of Poland) from July 29 to August 4.
The Portuguese will be joined by Italians Sacha Modolo, Valerio Conti and Roberto Ferrari, Moroccan Anass Ait El Abdia, Slovenian Matej Mohoric and Pole Przemyslaw Niemiec.
Costa, the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour champion, said: “This will be my first time racing in the Tour of Poland. I have been working really hard for the past couple of weeks, undergoing intensive altitude training alongside my teammates on the Passo San Pellegrino. The constant coaching and performance monitoring from the team’s trainers has been immensely helpful and I feel optimistic about the second part of my season. I cannot wait to test my form this coming Saturday.”
The seven-stage 1,136.5-km Tour of Poland starts in Krakow on Saturday and ends in Bukowina Tatrzanska next Friday. Four stages are suitable for sprinters (stages one, two, four and five) while the remaining three are best suited to climbing specialists.
UAE Team Emirates’ sporting director Orlando Maini, said: “The course this year is different to previous editions which should make for an interesting race. I think stages six and seven will be key for GC contenders like Rui Costa. Costa will lead the charge for the GC while Modolo will be on the hunt for sprint victories. Also in the line-up we have Moroccan Ait El Abdia who has recently come back to racing after suffering an injury in GP Lugano back in May and we are excited about that. All seven of our riders have been away on training and this is their first race of the second part of the season.”
