Sebastián Molano begins Tour de Pologne with fourth-place finish

Sebastián Molano opened his week of racing with a fourth-place finish on stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne. The Colombian showed a sharp turn of pace in the finale, as the day’s honours fell to Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek.

Raced between Gdynia and Koszalin, stage 1 was the longest of the week to come, clocking in at 234km on the northern coast of Poland. As such, the racing went on for over five hours for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and the peloton.

The Emirati squad focused on keeping its general classification contenders, João Almeida and Jan Christen, out of trouble, before turning its focus to the sprint finish in Koszalin. It was Vegard Stake Laengen who marshalled his teammates into the finale, with the big Norwegian proving invaluable in steering Molano towards the front of the bunch.

Once in position, the Colombian sprinter looked to surf the right wheels and land his second victory of the season. Unfortunately for Molano, victory was not to be forthcoming, with the newly-crowned Italian national champion finding the perfect line before opening up his account for the week. As Milan stormed clear, Molano made his own dart to the line on the opposite side of the road.

For Molano, it was enough to land him fourth place, with his progress hampered in the final kilometre. The Colombian had looked well placed heading under the flamme rouge, but was forced to pause his acceleration at times, owing to congestion at the front of the race.

Nonetheless, Molano could be happy with his efforts, especially given the late notice of his participation in Poland.

Molano: “Man, it’s been a busy few days! Unfortunately, Jhony crashed in Spain so I got the call to change from Burgos to Pologne. We managed to arrive yesterday and I must say thanks to the mechanics, who worked on my bikes past midnight last night. They are the best.

“Today, it was a long, long day. In the end, I managed to get into a nice place coming around the final bend, but I got a little boxed in as the sprint really started. I had to start my acceleration a couple of times, so I think this made things difficult. But it was a positive start and we can be happy with this. It’s a long week with more chances to come.”

Tour de Pologne 2026 stage 1 results:

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 5:04:11

1. Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t

3. Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t

4. Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Tour de Pologne 2026 general classification after stage 1:

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 5:04:01

1. Kamil Małecki (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +2″

3. Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) +4″

7. Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +8″