Ryder Hesjedal returns to racing at the Tour de Poland

Sunday marks the start of the 71st Tour de Poland, the first WorldTour stage race after the Tour de France, and Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin-Sharp will be ready to take on his first contest since the Critérium du Dauphiné. Hesjedal will be tweaking his form before the Vuelta a España.

Also on the start line will be defending champion Pieter Weening (The Netherlands/Orica-GreenEdge), who took the 2013 title on the last day time trial. He’ll face competition from the first Polish King of the Mountains at the Tour de France, Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo). Another Dutch threat is Robert Gesink (Belkin). Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) will want to prove that his third place in the Giro d’Italia wasn’t a fluke.

The Tour de Poland runs from August 3rd to the 9th. Instead of 2013’s mountains start, the 2014 edition doesn’t feature major ascents until Stages 5 and 6. The traditional final day’s time trail is 25 km around Krakow. Last year Christophe Riblon (France/Ag2r) was shuttled down from first to third on the final chrono.

Hesjedal is only one of four Canadians at the race. Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) comes in with his first Tour de France under his belt. Hugo Houle (Ag2r) just finished the Tour de Wallonie where he placed 64th. It will be Cannondale rider Guillaume Boivin’s first action since the Canadian nationals.