Olav Kooij won the second stage of the ORLEN Wyścig Narodów UCI Nations Cup U23 and won the general classification of the competition. The best of Poles, Bartosz Rudyk, was fifth in the second stage and fourteenth in the general classification. The national team of the Netherlands won the team classification of the Nations Cup, Poland took ninth place.

This year’s ORLEN Nations Grand Prix in Rzeszów was dictated by the Netherlands. The orange team won the Saturday team time trial, and Olav Kooij triumphed in the joint start race on Sunday. At the finish of al., Ciepliński was ahead of the Estonians Markus Pajur and Rait Arm.

In the general classification, the Netherlands took the entire podium – Kooij took the top step, next to him Mick van Dijke and Daan Hoole. The Poles took place in the “second ten”. Bartosz Rudyk was the fourteenth, and Adam Kuś was the fifteenth. As a team, the Poles took ninth place, losing almost 7.26 minutes to the winning Netherlands. Switzerland and Germany were also on the team podium.

The titular sponsor of the event is PKN ORLEN

Olav Kooij: We are very happy with the victory, it is an excellent contribution of the team – we fight together, we win together. During the team time trial, we showed that we have a strong team. Today we knew that we had to fight to maintain our position in the general classification. We had everything in our hands, and in the end, we also managed to win the stage.

Bartosz Rudyk: I was counting on more, because I cared about this start, and the last days have shown that I can show my best side. Standing at the beginning of this race, I thought about the podium, and even about winning. I liked the finish. I thought I had a chance for a good result, but it was enough for fifth place, and I feel a little unsatisfied. I think there was no smartness on my part. I thought the sprint would be a bit different.

Czesław Lang: I am delighted that we organized this race. It was not easy to find the date on the calendar. Not all invited teams could come. But in the end, thirteen teams started, and I think the sports level of the competition was high. Everyone came well prepared and determined to fight for victory. You can say that we had a real cycling feast in Rzeszów.

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