Tour 2015: Michal Kwiatkowski | Etixx-Quick-Step
FACT FILE
Age: 25
Height: 176cm
Weight: 68kg
WT ranking: 14
Wins in 2015: 2
Career wins: 14
Days racing in 2015: 31
Best Tour GC finish: 11th
KM raced in 2014: 6,185
Form rating: +++
World champion Michal Kwiatkowski is a proven one-day racer as the rainbow bands show, but the extent of his full talent is yet to be seen.
Kwiatkowski finished 11th at the Tour de France on his debut in 2013 and while the yellow jersey is not a consideration for him this season, the diverse rider has shown he has the potential to go for it in the future.
The 2014 Polish national time trial champion is set to, along with Tony Martin, be afforded his own opportunities at the Tour in a team that may otherwise prioritise Mark Cavendish. That shouldn’t be a problem for Kwiatkowski, who demonstrated his ability as a tactician at the Worlds last year, where he exhausted national team-mates early in the race before making a strong move within the final 10km.
Kwiatkowski had a triumphant Ardennes Classics campaign where he took line honours at the Amstel Gold Race, but has so far recorded fewer victories than last season. He has made minor placings, finishing second to Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte at the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice respectively, and was top 10 at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. Kwiatkowski has apparently observed a lighter programme in the lead-up to the Tour. He returned to racing at the Tour de Suisse in June, his first race back since the Ardennes.
Key support
Kwiatkowski and Martin proved they can be a formidable duo when they put their TT skills to use; see this year’s Paris-Nice, so given free rein they could go on the attack. Etixx DS Brian Holm once said, “Kwiatkowski is a complete rider. He looks like a climber, he can sprint, he can ride on the cobbles,” so he will surely have confidence in him to go for a stage win. Kwiatkowski favours hilly parcours, meaning stage three, ending on the Mur de Huy — the final climb of Flèche Wallonne — and stage
Age: 25
Height: 176cm
Weight: 68kg
WT ranking: 14
Wins in 2015: 2
Career wins: 14
Days racing in 2015: 31
Best Tour GC finish: 11th
KM raced in 2014: 6,185
Form rating: +++
World champion Michal Kwiatkowski is a proven one-day racer as the rainbow bands show, but the extent of his full talent is yet to be seen.
Kwiatkowski finished 11th at the Tour de France on his debut in 2013 and while the yellow jersey is not a consideration for him this season, the diverse rider has shown he has the potential to go for it in the future.
The 2014 Polish national time trial champion is set to, along with Tony Martin, be afforded his own opportunities at the Tour in a team that may otherwise prioritise Mark Cavendish. That shouldn’t be a problem for Kwiatkowski, who demonstrated his ability as a tactician at the Worlds last year, where he exhausted national team-mates early in the race before making a strong move within the final 10km.
Kwiatkowski had a triumphant Ardennes Classics campaign where he took line honours at the Amstel Gold Race, but has so far recorded fewer victories than last season. He has made minor placings, finishing second to Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte at the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice respectively, and was top 10 at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. Kwiatkowski has apparently observed a lighter programme in the lead-up to the Tour. He returned to racing at the Tour de Suisse in June, his first race back since the Ardennes.
Key support
Kwiatkowski and Martin proved they can be a formidable duo when they put their TT skills to use; see this year’s Paris-Nice, so given free rein they could go on the attack. Etixx DS Brian Holm once said, “Kwiatkowski is a complete rider. He looks like a climber, he can sprint, he can ride on the cobbles,” so he will surely have confidence in him to go for a stage win. Kwiatkowski favours hilly parcours, meaning stage three, ending on the Mur de Huy — the final climb of Flèche Wallonne — and stage
Commenti
Posta un commento