The Italian, who was competing in his first race whilst wearing the green, white and red national champion’s jersey that he had won at the end of June, cut a fine figure even in the unfamiliar kit, although the sprint down a slightly winding and uneven home straight was far from straightforward. None of the fast finishers were still on the rear wheel of their lead-out man in the final stretch; timing and coordination proved to be a challenge.

Milan handled this challenge best on the Polish Baltic coast in Koszalin – the race started in Gdynia. “I knew that over the final 600 metres I couldn’t be too far back, but I couldn’t be too far ahead either. For me, it was important to build up momentum as early as the 200-metre mark and not wait until the very end at the 100-metre mark, where the road led slightly uphill,” he said, describing his path to success.

It was his ninth win of the season, the 35th of his career. It also secures him his first overall victory in this stage race. In second place is the Pole Kamil Malecki (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), who picked up eight bonus seconds from the breakaway group and is therefore just two seconds behind Milan. Magnier is third, four seconds behind.

2026 Tour de Pologne – Results of Stage 1

Here’s how the first stage of the 2026 Tour de Pologne went

Right at the start of the stage race came the longest stage of the week, covering 234 kilometres. The riders’ legs were still fresh, so immediately after the starting gun went off, a group of six formed with the aim of setting the pace for the day. The group included four WorldTour professionals: Patrick Gamper (Team Jayco AlUla Team) from Austria, Bart Lemmen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) from the Netherlands, Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility) from Denmark, and Rudy Molard (Groupama - FDJ United). However, the six-man group never managed to build up a lead of much more than two minutes over the peloton.

Lidl-Trek, in particular, for Milan, and Soudal Quick-Step for Magnier, did the chasing work and had reduced the gap to around one minute with 100 kilometres to go. But it grew again. With 35 kilometres to go, the remaining five leaders had a 90-second lead once more. With 16 kilometres to go, however, their long breakaway finally came to an end. And so the peloton rode together into the first and only mountain classification (3rd category), just under seven kilometres from the finish.

Except for Dries De Bondt (Team Jayco AlUla). The Belgian launched an attack eleven kilometres from the finish and rode a few seconds ahead of the peloton, but disappeared back into the pack shortly after the summit, having nevertheless secured the mountains jersey. After that, however, things remained quiet, with no further attacks until the final stretch.

A tense sprint for the lead then ensued, with a 90-degree bend 600 metres from the finish line adding to the drama. The sprint trains fell apart, and things got complicated for everyone involved – but despite the difficult conditions and a few shoulder-to-shoulder encounters, the race remained crash-free; Milan then lived up to his role as favourite and won by a bike length ahead of Magnier, who was also highly fancied.