On May 29 and 30 the participants of the ORLEN Nations Grand Prix will ride along the beautiful roads of Podlasie. Białystok is going to host the 3rd edition of a race dedicated completely to the best young riders in the world to which 23 teams have already confirmed their attendance.
Only Poland, Czech Republic and France continue organizing the UCI Nations Cup despite the difficult pandemic time. The fight for trophies will start in Białystok with the young riders meeting in June in Jeseniky while the other two editions – scheduled in July and August – will take place in France. The prestigious Tour de l’Avenir which has been discovering the world’s greatest talents for many years, will then provide a grand finale.
“In 2017, Egan Bernal won here, and two years later he was already the best rider of Le Tour de France. The same path was followed by the incredible Tadej Pogacar, who has been delighting us for several months. This shows how much talent there is in the youth peloton. Future stars are breaking through in youth races, but there are only a few of these races left in the calendar. I am glad that for the third year in a row Poland is on this map” – says Czesław Lang, the director of ORLEN Nations Grand Prix and Tour de Pologne.
The first edition of the ORLEN Nations Grand Prix was held in Bukowina Tatrzańska, the second in Rzeszów, and now it’s time for Białystok. “We are moving around Poland and that makes us happy, because the race raises a lot of interest. This year we had an extremely ambitious plan: a five-stage race. We wanted to start right behind the Lithuanian border and finish in Białystok. Unfortunately, the pandemic made it impossible to cross the borders but I am very confident about the quality of the race. Together with the authorities of Białystok we have prepared a very interesting and varied route” – Lang adds.
The first race day the peloton will ride for 143 kilometers while on the second day they will face almost 125 km. Both the finish lines are going to be placed at the Józef Piłsudski Avenue, in the same exact spot where the Tour de Pologne finished 12 years ago. “I am very happy that we are returning to these beautiful areas. Białystok has changed in a huge way. According to the European Commission’s reports, nowhere else in the whole of Europe the quality of life increased so much in the last five years. We will try to add some unforgettable sporting emotions to this quality” – concludes Czesław Lang.
23 national teams have already confirmed their start in the ORLEN Nations Grand Prix, including the Polish National Team. The competition will be shown by Polish Television (TVP). On May 30th we will also provide a great opportunity for active cycling fans to tackle the course of the Nations Grand Prix with the ORLEN Lang Team Race starting from Białystok and opening our 2021 amateur cycle series. Registration is already open.
