Lorena Wiebes completed a perfect Tour de Pologne Women, winning stage 3 in Lublin to seal the overall title after taking all three stages of the 2026 race.
The SD Worx-Protime rider was delivered by another powerful team lead-out, with Lotte Kopecky doing the final turn before Wiebes launched clear on Krakowskie Przedmieście. Elisa Balsamo finished second for Lidl-Trek, with Lara Gillespie third for UAE Team ADQ and Chiara Consonni fourth for Canyon SRAM.
Wiebes also won the ORLEN general classification, the LOTTO most active rider classification and helped SD Worx-Protime take the team classification. It was a complete three-day performance from the Dutch sprinter and her team, with Wiebes winning in Zamość, Lubartów and Lublin.
A final stage made for another sprint
The final stage took the riders from Janowiec to Lublin on a slightly rolling 102-kilometre route. The day started beneath the Renaissance castle in Janowiec before heading towards Puławy and then into Lublin for a city-centre finish on Krakowskie Przedmieście.
On paper, it looked like another stage Wiebes could control. The route had some rolling roads and a more awkward final kilometre, including a short rise, but nothing severe enough to remove the race leader from contention if SD Worx-Protime managed the day properly.
Wiebes began the day already in yellow after winning the opening two stages. She had survived the wet, crash-hit finish in Zamość, then won a more conventional bunch sprint in Lubartów. With one stage left, the question was whether anyone could stop the hat-trick.
The answer, once again, was no.
Balsamo wins the early sprint prime
The only LOTTO sprint prime came early in Puławy. Balsamo was fastest there, taking the 3-second bonus and keeping herself in the fight for the final GC podium.
For Wiebes, the outcome was still useful. With the intermediate sprint behind her, she had effectively secured the LOTTO most active rider classification, removing one of the day’s smaller objectives before the race reached its main phase.
Balsamo’s bonus seconds also mattered for the final podium. She had started the day third overall behind Wiebes and Gillespie, but the sprint prime gave her a route towards second place by the end of the stage.
After that, the attacks began.
Vollering and Pavesi make the move
The breakaway that shaped the stage came from Bodine Vollering of VolkerWessels and Marta Pavesi of Top Girls Fassa Bortolo. The pair went clear early and built a useful advantage, forcing SD Worx-Protime to take responsibility behind.
Sofia Ungerová of MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław and Romina Costantini of Aromitalia Vaiano tried to chase across, but their move turned into a difficult pursuit rather than a bridge. On one of the rolling climbs, Ungerová dropped Costantini and continued alone, but she was still caught less than 25 kilometres from the finish.
That left Vollering and Pavesi alone at the front, trying to hold off the bunch across the final approach to Lublin.
Their move lasted deep into the finale. It was not a token breakaway, and for a while it gave the sprint teams work to do. But with Wiebes in yellow and SD Worx-Protime chasing another stage, the peloton always had a clear target.
SD Worx-Protime bring it back
SD Worx-Protime gradually reduced the gap, with Marta Lach among those doing important work in the chase. The team had controlled the race across all three stages, and the final day was no different.
Vollering and Pavesi were still out front on the outskirts of Lublin, but the bunch had them in sight. With exactly 5 kilometres remaining, the move was caught, and the stage reset for another sprint.
From that point, the best sprint teams organised at the front, but SD Worx-Protime again looked the most composed. The difference this time was how cleanly they delivered Wiebes compared with the disrupted finishes of the previous two days.
Stage 1 had been shaped by a crash on a wet roundabout, and stage 2 had seen SD Worx-Protime briefly lose shape before Wiebes found space. In Lublin, the team had the finish under control when it mattered most.
Kopecky launches Wiebes
The final lead-out was decisive. Kopecky took over at the front and delivered a huge turn, placing Wiebes exactly where she needed to be.
Balsamo was well positioned on Wiebes’ wheel, but the Italian could not match the acceleration once Wiebes opened her sprint. Gillespie, who had finished second on stage 2 after a late bike change, again sprinted strongly but had to settle for third on the day.
Consonni was fourth, the only other rider visible close behind the podium finishers as gaps opened through the finish.
Wiebes crossed the line first for the third time in three days. It was not just another sprint win, but the completion of a clean sweep: three stages, three victories, and the overall title.
Wiebes wins everything
Wiebes ended the race with the ORLEN general classification, the LOTTO most active rider classification and all three stage wins. SD Worx-Protime also won the team classification, underlining the extent of their control.
“Everything went our way,” Wiebes said afterwards. “Besides the individual victories, we won the team classification, and that is also a reward for the girls who worked very hard for three days. I am glad that we won all the stages.
“The race was a very nice experience, it was very well organised, and it shows that not only WorldTour events can be organised at the highest level, but also ProSeries races.”
The stage victory and overall win were also reported as the 130th and 131st wins of Wiebes’ career. More immediately, they showed that she is travelling to the Tour de France Femmes in formidable form.
Across three days in Poland, she won in different ways: through a broken, crash-affected finale in Zamość, through a more conventional sprint in Lubartów, and through a dominant team lead-out in Lublin.
Balsamo moves up to second overall
Balsamo’s second place on the stage also moved her to second in the final general classification. The Lidl-Trek rider finished 20 seconds behind Wiebes overall, with Gillespie third at 23 seconds.
Balsamo had been consistent across the race and used the final day well, taking the early sprint prime and then finishing second in Lublin. She could not match Wiebes in the sprint, but she did enough to move ahead of Gillespie in the final standings.
“On the first day, the entire peloton had bad luck due to a crash, but fortunately no one was seriously hurt,” Balsamo said. “On the second day and today, we tried again. From stage to stage it was getting better, I also won an intermediate sprint, I took second place in the general classification, so I’m satisfied.
“It’s a good omen before the Tour de France Femmes. Almost everyone was here, the racing was at a very high level and I liked it.”
For Lidl-Trek, second overall and another sprint podium made it a useful three-day block, even if Wiebes remained out of reach.
Gillespie finishes third after strong final two days
Gillespie finished third on both the stage and the final GC, completing a strong race for UAE Team ADQ after a frustrating opening day.
Her stage 1 sprint was disrupted by the crash on the final roundabout in Zamość, but she bounced back with second in Lubartów despite a late bike change, then backed it up with third in Lublin.
“The race was routed on good roads, with very good organisation,” Gillespie said. “It was safe and I really liked it. As a team we learned a lot, from day to day we did better and better, and today the lead-out was perfect. I am very satisfied with these three days of racing.”
That progression was one of the race’s clearest secondary stories. Wiebes dominated the wins, but Gillespie came out of Poland with evidence that she can compete in high-level bunch finishes against the very best sprinters.
Marta Lach enjoys home support
SD Worx-Protime’s win also had a Polish dimension through Lach. She had crashed in the finale of stage 1 while working in Wiebes’ lead-out, but recovered to play a key role across the race and helped the team complete its sweep.
For Lach, racing on Polish roads in front of home crowds gave the week additional meaning.
“I am very happy because there really are a lot of fans here,” she said. “I didn’t expect that so many of them would know my name. It’s very nice when fans come up and ask for a photo.
“On top of that, the crowds of fans along the route with Polish flags, it was a huge honour to race on Polish roads among Polish fans.”
Lach’s work was part of the reason SD Worx-Protime controlled all three days so effectively. Even when the lead-out was disrupted, as it was on stages 1 and 2, the team had enough strength and calm to bring Wiebes into position.
Wankiewicz finishes ninth overall
Olga Wankiewicz was the highest-placed Polish rider on the final stage and in the final general classification. The MAT ATOM Deweloper Wrocław rider finished 13th in Lublin, after earlier stage finishes of fifth and eighth, and ended the race ninth overall.
It was a strong performance from the Polish continental team in a field stacked with Women’s WorldTour riders.
“From the beginning, our assumption was to fight,” Wankiewicz said. “We would have really been happy with a top-10 finish, but after the first stage, where I was fifth, the appetite grew. The next day I was eighth, today I felt probably the best out of all the days, but we got lost in the finale and unfortunately it didn’t work out.
“That’s how sprints are, a moment of hesitation and you lose your position. I am very grateful to the girls because they poured their hearts out on these three stages and did whatever they could, and they showed up great on TV, which is also important for our sponsors. As a team, we are satisfied.”
Wankiewicz’s ninth overall gave the home race a notable Polish result, and her consistency across the three sprint stages stood out.
A strong edition for Polish women’s cycling
Race director Czesław Lang described the race as a success, highlighting both the level of the field and the public response across the three stages.
“The Tour de Pologne Women turned out very nicely for us,” Lang said. “As many as 8 UCI Women’s WorldTour teams registered, the line-ups were very strong, featuring world, European and Olympic medallists. Each of these teams prepared well for this race.
“I am very pleased with the attitude of the Polish women; we have Olga Wankiewicz in the top 10, and I believe she has a great career ahead of her and will be able to make it to the UCI Women’s WorldTour groups. I was very happy with the crowds of fans at the starts, finishes, and sprints. It was just like the men’s Tour de Pologne. There was huge interest, and we managed to do great promotion for women’s cycling.”
For a three-day ProSeries race, the start list and sprint depth made this an important pre-Tour de France Femmes test. Wiebes was clearly the standout, but Balsamo, Gillespie, Consonni and the Polish riders all gave the race shape beyond the overall winner.
Wiebes heads to the Tour in top form
The Tour de Pologne Women could hardly have gone better for Wiebes. She won every stage, claimed the overall title, added another classification and left with her team also on top.
The bigger context is obvious. The Tour de France Femmes starts soon, and Wiebes now heads there with three wins in three days and a lead-out unit that has been sharpened by pressure.
The finishes were not all clean. Stage 1 was chaotic, stage 2 required improvisation and stage 3 was the most polished. That variety may be just as useful as the wins themselves. SD Worx-Protime had to solve different sprint problems on consecutive days, and Wiebes finished each one the same way.
In Poland, nobody could come around her. The Tour de France Femmes will bring a deeper field, tougher stages and different pressure, but her form is exactly where it needs to be.
Tour de Pologne Women 2026 stage 3 result
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Tour de Pologne Women 2026 final general classification
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