Lorena Wiebes won stage 1 of the 2026 Tour de Pologne Women, sprinting to victory in Zamość after a wet, crash-affected finale disrupted SD Worx-Protime’s lead-out but did not stop the Dutch sprinter from taking the opening yellow jersey.
The SD Worx-Protime rider came through ahead of teammate Barbara Guarischi, completing a one-two for the team after a messy final kilometre. Marthe Truyen finished third for Fenix-Premier Tech, while Olga Wankiewicz took an impressive fifth place for MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław as the best Polish rider on the day.
Wiebes also moved into the ORLEN general classification lead and the LOTTO most active rider classification after winning the opening stage and taking bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint.
Wet roads and a nervous opening day
The fourth edition of the Tour de Pologne Women began with a 138-kilometre stage from Tomaszów Lubelski to Zamość, taking the riders through the Lubelskie Voivodeship and the rolling roads around Krasnobród, Szczebrzeszyn and Roztocze National Park.
It was not a flat procession to the sprint. The route was hilly enough to encourage attacks, and the weather made the stage more stressful. Rain fell on and off through the afternoon, leaving the roads damp and the finale more technical than the profile alone suggested.
The field included Women’s WorldTour teams, the Polish national team and MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław, the only Polish continental team in the race. With several riders building towards the Tour de France Femmes, the opening stage offered both a sprint opportunity and a useful test of form.
Wiebes started as the obvious favourite if the stage came back together, but the race still needed to be controlled.
Wiebes strikes first at the sprint prime
Despite the rain, the racing was aggressive from the start. The first LOTTO sprint prime went to Wiebes, who showed early that she was not only thinking about the stage finish.
By winning the first intermediate sprint, Wiebes took a 3-second time bonus and briefly moved into the virtual lead of the LOTTO most active rider classification. It also gave SD Worx-Protime an early foothold in the race before the day’s breakaway took shape.
The stage then settled into its main attacking phase. Natalia Krześlak of the Polish national team, Martyna Szczęsna of MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław, Grace Arlandson of the USA national team, Eleonora La Bella of Aromitalia Vaiano and Virginia Bortoli of Top Girls Fassa Bortolo formed the break of the day.
The five riders built a lead of just over a minute, giving the stage some shape without ever fully breaking the grip of the sprint teams.
Five-rider break kept under control
The breakaway worked well enough to force the peloton to chase, but the gap never became unmanageable. SD Worx-Protime were content to keep the race under control, confident that Wiebes would be the fastest rider if the race reached Zamość in a group.
The escape was brought back before the second LOTTO sprint prime in Szczebrzeszyn, where Quinty Ton of Liv AlUla Jayco was fastest. That catch came earlier than the attackers would have wanted, but the strength of the peloton made it difficult for the move to survive into the final part of the stage.
The pace remained high after the break was caught, and the bunch began to split on the rolling terrain. The combination of climbs, rain and repeated accelerations made the day harder than a simple sprint stage.
It was still heading towards a fast finish, but not with a relaxed peloton.
SD Worx-Protime control the race
Wiebes later credited her team for the way they managed the stage. Lisa van Belle worked early, while Lotte Kopecky and Femke Gerritse helped keep SD Worx-Protime in position deeper into the finale.
That control mattered because the rain made the last kilometres unpredictable. A bunch sprint in dry conditions is already difficult to manage. A sprint on damp roads, with roundabouts and a nervous peloton, is far more dangerous.
SD Worx-Protime had planned to finish the lead-out with Guarischi and Marta Lach. The idea was clear: keep Wiebes sheltered, deliver her through the final corners and let her launch in the last metres.
But the plan did not survive the final roundabout.
Crash disrupts the lead-out
The decisive moment before the sprint came inside the final kilometre, when a crash on a roundabout split the bunch and disrupted the front of the race. Lach went down, along with several other riders, while Chiara Consonni of Canyon SRAM, last year’s overall winner, was also among those to crash.
It was an unfortunate end to Lach’s important work for Wiebes. The Polish rider had been lined up as the final lead-out rider, and the crash broke the structure SD Worx-Protime had prepared.
Guarischi was left leading Wiebes out almost alone. Wiebes briefly lost her teammate’s wheel in the chaos, but she recovered quickly, rebuilt her speed and came around Guarischi before the line.
The finish was not the clean, drilled sprint SD Worx-Protime would have wanted, but the result was the same.
Wiebes too strong in Zamość
Once Wiebes found open road, the sprint was decisive. She came past Guarischi and won by a clear margin, confirming again why she remains the benchmark sprinter in the women’s peloton.
Guarischi held on for second, completing a perfect stage result for SD Worx-Protime despite the disrupted lead-out. Truyen took third for Fenix-Premier Tech, making the podium after navigating the chaotic finale well.
Wiebes admitted afterwards that the crash was not how she wanted the sprint to unfold, especially with Lach involved, but she was pleased with how the team controlled the race.
“Today’s stage was very wet,” Wiebes said. “It rained a lot, but I think it wasn’t that bad. At some moments it was slippery, but nothing crazy. On the hills there were attacks, which suited me, because it is good to open the legs before the finish.
“The team controlled the race very well. First Lisa van Belle worked, then Lotte Kopecky and Femke Gerritse in the finale, and for the finish we had Barbara Guarischi and Marta Lach. Marta crashed at the last roundabout, which was sad because she was supposed to be my last lead-out rider and it was a good chance for her, but fortunately I was able to win. Of course, this is not the way you want to win, after a crash of other riders, but that’s how it is sometimes.”
Lach escapes serious injury
Lach’s crash was a worrying moment for SD Worx-Protime, particularly with the Tour de France Femmes approaching, but she later confirmed that she had avoided serious injury.
The Polish rider said the team had the race under control and had executed the plan well until the wet roundabout.
“We had the race under control the whole time,” Lach said. “There were breakaways in which we were not present, but we knew we would catch them. Later on the climbs we were always at the front, we set a strong pace. In the last metres everything was well planned and in the end we managed to win, but on the roundabout the asphalt was wet after the rain and I fell. Fortunately, apart from minor road rash, everything is fine.”
It was a reminder of the risks that shaped the stage. The rain was never extreme enough to stop racing, but it made cornering more hazardous and turned the final roundabout into a decisive obstacle.
For SD Worx-Protime, the outcome was still almost ideal: a stage win, a one-two finish and the first race lead.
Wankiewicz gives MAT ATOM a major result
One of the best home results came from Wankiewicz, who finished fifth for MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław. In a field containing WorldTour sprint trains and riders preparing for the Tour de France Femmes, it was a major performance from the Polish continental team.
Wankiewicz was delighted afterwards, stressing how much of the result came from the team’s work.
“I am very satisfied,” she said. “This fifth place makes me as happy as if I had won, but it is not only my merit, but also of the whole team. We had the best train today and all the girls did a stellar job. It is thanks to them that I took this fifth place.
“Standing at the start we knew it would be hard to fight in such a well-staffed race. These girls will soon be riding the Tour de France, the most important race of the season. We knew that a place in the top 10 would be a great success, and we won the fifth position.”
MAT ATOM also ended the day leading the team classification, giving the Polish squad another reason to celebrate after the opening stage.
Safety focus after rainy finale
Race director Czesław Lang highlighted the difficulty of racing in the rain after the stage, especially on a damp final run-in where visibility, grip and braking all become more complicated.
“The first stage brought us huge emotions,” Lang said. “The competitors showed great form. We watched beautiful breakaways, attacks, and a fierce fight at the intermediate sprints. The finish on a slightly damp asphalt was a real test of technical skills and courage.”
He also pointed to the modern equipment that helps riders in these conditions, including disc brakes and wider tyres, but stressed that rain still adds stress and risk.
“Rain is always a great hindrance and stress, which is why our main priority remains the safety of the competitors,” he said.
That was the theme of the day. The race produced an expected sprint winner, but the route, rain and crash made the path to that sprint anything but straightforward.
Wiebes starts in yellow
Wiebes now leads the ORLEN general classification and will start stage 2 in the yellow jersey. She also leads the LOTTO most active rider classification after her stage win and early sprint-prime points.
It is an ideal opening for SD Worx-Protime. Wiebes has already delivered the sprint win, Guarischi has shown her own speed, and Kopecky and Gerritse were part of the control structure that kept the race together.
For the rest of the field, the challenge is clear. Wiebes is already ahead, and if the race produces more bunch finishes, she will be difficult to beat. But the first stage also showed that rain, hills and technical finales can make this Tour de Pologne Women more complicated than a simple sprint race.
Stage 2 takes the riders over 118 kilometres from Włodawa to Lubartów, with the race again set to test whether the sprinters’ teams can control the day.
Tour de Pologne Women 2026 stage 1 result
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