Tour de Pologne and Vuelta a Burgos next up for UAE Team Emirates-XRG

UAE Team Emirates-XRG can confirm its line-ups for the upcoming stage races in Poland and Spain, with Rafał Majka topping the bill at the Tour de Pologne, and Isaac del Toro leading the line at the Vuelta a Burgos.

For Majka, the week-long stage race will be particularly special, with the 35-year-old starting his home race as the Polish national road race champion for the first time in his career. The man from Zegartowice won his first national title in 2016, but did not start the Tour de Pologne that time round.

Now in his second spell with the white eagle on his chest, Majka will return to home roads to make his 10th appearance at the Tour de Pologne. A former winner of the race in 2014, Majka claimed two stage wins that year, before taking his last Pologne stage victory two years ago in UAE Team Emirates-XRG colours.

The Emirati squad will be looking to improve upon its runner-up spots from the last two editions, and add to its five stage wins at the race to date. In Majka, Sports Directors Marco Marzano and Manuele Mori can call upon plenty of experience, and the Polish rider will be complemented by his teammate, Brandon McNulty.

The American will be making his first appearance since the Giro d’Italia in May, where both he and Majka were instrumental in supporting Isaac del Toro’s spell in the pink jersey. Between both riders, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has options in the Tatra mountains, which should come to define the 82nd edition of this race.

Looking ahead to his home Tour de Pologne, Majka spoke of his pride at returning to the race as the recently-crowned national champion.

Majka: “It’s an honour to captain the team for the Tour of Poland. Seeing what the guys did at the Tour de France is very motivating, and we are keen to keep the strong run going for the squad. We have some top talent with guys for stage wins and the overall GC.

“There will be many friends and family around this week, so it gives extra motivation. To wear the national champion’s jersey on home roads is a beautiful thing, also.”

Joining Majka and McNulty in Poland will be teammates Filippo Baroncini, Jan Christen, Julius Johansen, Vegard Stake Laengen and Florian Vermeersch. At the recent Tour of Austria, Baroncini, Johansen and Vermeersch all helped Majka to a third-place finish overall, with the team taking four stage victories from five days of racing.

In Johansen and Stake Laengen, the Emirati squad will doubtless have the most powerful engine room at the race, and in Baroncini, Christen and Vermeersch, the team has three riders capable on all kinds of terrain. All seven riders will see plenty of opportunities for the team to go on the front foot across this year’s route, which looks set to promise another intriguing instalment.

Taking place entirely along the country’s southern border and moving from west to east, this year’s Tour de Pologne contains six road stages suiting sprinters, puncheurs and climbers alike, before a final individual time trial to crown this year’s winner.

Setting out from Wrocław on Monday, 4 August, stage 1 will fall to the sprinters, before the race’s first uphill finish on stage 2. Heading to the renowned Orlinek in Karpacz, there will be four category 2 climbs before the final ascent, which stretches out for 3.1km at 6.8%.

Stages 3 and 4 are both up-and-down, but the latter could offer another opportunity to some of the more versatile sprinters. As for stage 3, three ascents apiece of the Walimska Pass and the Niedźwiedzica Pass will ensure that the general classification contenders trade blows.

At 206.1km, stage 5 will be the longest of the race, but with the final categorised climb topping out with 60km to ride.

The following day will bring the Queen stage from Bukowina Resort to Bukowina Tatrzańska. Although less than 150km in length, stage 6 challenges the peloton with a host of climbs in the Tatra mountains, including a couple of climbs that are so steep they have earned the names Harnaś Wall and Bukovina Wall. A final climb of 4km at 5% will bring the riders to the finish.

To end the week, a 12.5km individual time trial will have the final say in the general classification. Stage 7 will draw the race to a close with a rolling parcours that starts and finishes near Kraków and the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Starting quickly on the heels of the Tour de Pologne, the Vuelta a Burgos will begin on Tuesday, 5 August, and come to an end on Saturday, 9 August. There, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will hope to improve on the podium places it has achieved in the last three editions. Despite having yet to win the race overall, the Emirati squad has taken six stage victories over the years.

This time around, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be led by Isaac del Toro and Sebastián Molano. The Colombian has taken three stage wins at the Vuelta Burgos across three starts, whilst the Mexican will be making his race debut.

Joining the pair in Spain will be Igor Arrieta, Alessandro Covi, Domen Novak, Rui Oliveira and Gen Z rider, Marcos Freire. For the Spaniard, this will be his first stage race outing for the WorldTour side. 


For the likes of Molano, who will be eyeing up a sprint victory, stage 1 will certainly be circled in the roadbook. Setting off from Olmillos de Sasamón, stage 1 will take the peloton across the Burgos plains on an undulating route that lays open the potential for crosswinds. Sprinters with good positioning and a steel spirit will thrive here.

After a nervy opening stage, the general classification contenders will butt heads on stage 2, with a medium-mountain route that ends in an uphill drag to Buniel. Expect the puncheurs to come to the fore here, before the true mountains arrive the following day.

Heading up to Valpuesta, stage 3 will take the peloton over a number of mountains before the final climb, which has gradients of around 10% in the final kilometres. With that tough stage in the legs, an undulating afternoon on stage 4 might favour a breakaway win.

To end the five days of racing, the Vuelta a Burgos will host its Queen stage and crown this year’s winner on Saturday, 9 August. Stage 5 is only short, at a little under 140km in length, but it is packed with climbing and ends with a summit finish on the fearsome Lagunas de Neila. Here, as the switchbacks emerge and gradients rise above 10%, the race’s best climbers will go head-to-head in one last showdown.