CONSONNI CONQUERS STAGE 3 & THE OVERALL AT TOUR DE POLOGNE

After frustration in stage two, Chiara Consonni made amends in emphatic style, storming to an utterly dominant victory on a taxing uphill drag that concluded the third and final stage of the Tour de Pologne Women.

The win more than sewed up Chiara’s overall and points classification victories, leads that she’d held since her day-one win. She stretched her general classification advantage from five seconds at the start of the day to 13 over Zanetti (UXM), with Schweinberger (HPH) a further eight seconds back. Such was the dominance of her final kick that she prised open a two-second gap on the bunch of more than 60 riders who trickled in afterwards.

It comes as no surprise that Chiara is delighted with her tour in Poland, particularly after finally getting the monkey off her back and claiming her first victory of 2025.

“I’m really happy. I think after all these second and third places, all the podiums this season, the first win gave me a lot of motivation to keep fighting for the GC and then for another stage victory. I think all the girls and the team believed in me – I needed to do my best and I did.”

On the gradual slopes of the stage two cobbled finish, Chiara waited, and waited some more. She wanted to launch her sprint quite close to the line, but ultimately was boxed in behind lead-out traffic. Today, she flipped the script, exploding like a cannon with 300 metres to go and never looking back. She didn’t need to, because the immediate gap she opened was devastating. Her rivals never came close to closing back in on Chiara.

“Compared to yesterday when I was closed in, the plan was like to take the hill more in front. The finish of yesterday was a bit harder but I felt good, so today I asked the girls to bring me in the best position for the finish. Maybe I started too long, but again I felt really, really good.”

The team was exceptional over the 128 kilometre stage. The Australian duo Tiffany Cromwell and Emily Dixon kept a two-rider break in check, their lead of more than 2.5 minutes with 50km remaining steadily reduced until the escapees were within striking distance. The eventual lone leader was swept up inside the final kilometre, on a taxing 600m run to the line that averaged a subtle but leg-sapping 3%. A stretch of cobbles added to the sting, but Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Zoe Bäckstedt and Maria Martins combined for a turbo-charged lead-out, giving Chiara the perfect launchpad up the punishing finale until her take-off.

She shares some insights on the team’s objectives and strategies.

“We were really motivated to keep the jersey, and I think the girls did a really, really good job. We kept the race as close as possible, and let the breakaway go for the second bonus sprint after we saw that I was second in the first one. In the end, we closed the breakaway which everybody did a really amazing job to do, and then again for the lead out.”

It’s the second successful tour for the trio of Chiara, Zoe and Maria, who also raced the Baloise Ladies Tour, where Zoe claimed the overall classification along with three stage wins. In Poland, Chiara felt equal parts motivated and under pressure to deliver, switching roles with Zoe to be the one chasing the result.

“Maybe since I helped Zoe in the Baloise Tour, we are even, because I helped her to win the GC there and now she’s given me back her all. I think this was one motivation for me, but also the other girls – they really worked for me and it was really necessary to give them back something great. And, I think I did that!”

Two out of three stage wins and both individual classifications secured – overall and points. A superb, near-perfect outing at a race that carries extra significance for the team, with title partner zondacrypto supporting both the men’s and women’s editions of Tour de Pologne. Achieving such success on home turf for zondacrypto, while having their physical presence on the ground, makes the fantastic results all the more meaningful.