Polish National Road Championships - CN

Czestochowa, June 27-30, 2002

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Day 3 - June 30: Elite Men Road Race

Gronkiewicz wins Polish title

By Grzesiek Kaczmarzyk

37 year old Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Weltour) surprised many of the favourites by winning the Polish road championships in Czestochowa. Held over 10 laps of a long but not overly tough course, the race finished in a bunch sprint where Gronkiewicz triumphed in front of Krzysztof Jezowski (Mikomax) and Jaroslaw Zarebski (CCC Polsat). Bartlomiej Ksobiak (Servisco-Koop), who was actually third across the finish line, was later disqualified "for holding to a team car (after a mechanical)."

A race was long, but not tough. There were only three hills per lap, with the most difficult being Zlota Gora (Golden Mountain - 0.6 km at 5%) and it was at the beginning of the lap. After 113 kilometres, eight riders (among others the present champion of Poland, Radoslaw Romanik and big favourite Jacek Mickiewicz from CCC Polsat, Zbigniew Piatek, second in 2001, and Piotr Wadecki`s brother, Adam from Mroz and Arkadiusz Wojtas from Team Nurnberger) got away.

They gradually built up their advantage and after 190 kilometres they had 1'30. Then the lead started to fall as Weltour, Mikomax and Ambra led the chase and Romanik's group was finally caught with 4 km to go. The whole peleton came to the finish line, which happened for the first time in many years. The new Polish champion was Grzegorz Gronkiewicz, the 37 year old from Weltour who comes from Czestochowa, where the championship took place.

Photos

Images courtesy of Marek Czerwin´ski

Jacek Mickiewicz (CCC Polsat) in a very similar outfit to that of Euskatel-Euskadi
The fans just can't keep their hands off winner Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Weltour)
Newly-crowned Polish road champion Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Weltour) experiences the highs (literally) of winning

Results - 10x 22.4 km = 224 km

1 Grzegorz Gronkiewicz (Weltour) *                      5.05.55 (43.93 km/h)
2 Krzysztof Jezowski (Mikomax Browar Staropolski)       
3 Jaroslaw Zarebski (CCC Polsat) **                     
4 Marcin Gebka (Weltour)                                
5 Mariusz Kaminski (Legia Bazyliszek)                   
6 Dariusz Skoczylas (CCC Polsat)                        
7 Kazimierz Stafiej (Mroz)                              
8 Slawomir Chrzanowski (Ambra Obuwie SNC Odziez)        
9 Adam Wadecki (Mroz)                                   
10 Mariusz Mielcarek (Legia Bazyliszek)                 
11 Wojciech Kalemba (Weltour)                           
12 Marcin Lewandowski (Mikomax Browar Staropolski)      
13 Slawomir Kohut (Amore e Vita - Beretta)              
14 Cezary Zamana (CCC Polsat)                           
15 Wojciech Pawlak (Mikomax Browar Staropolski)         
16 Krzysztof Krzywy (Mroz)                              
17 Jacek Walczak (Legia Bazyliszek)                     
18 Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Mroz)                          
19 Michal Danielak (WKS Flota Gdynia)                   
20 Grzegorz Wajs (Ambra Obuwie SNC Odziez)              
21 Adrian Gagala (VS Chartres)                          
22 Jacek Mickiewicz (CCC Polsat)                        
23 Marek Rutkiewicz (Cofidis)                           
24 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Ambra Obuwie SNC Odziez)      
25 Pawel Zugaj (Mroz)                                   
26 Seweryn Kohut (De Nardi - Pasta Montegrappa)         
27 Artur Krzeszowiec (CCC Polsat)                       
28 Kacper Sowinski (Legia Bazyliszek)                   
29 Tomasz Kaszuba (US Montauban)                        
30 Marek Kaminski (Servisco-Koop)                       
31 Tomasz Lisowicz (Bike Sport Krzemionka)              
32 Sebastian Skiba (Legia Bazyliszek)                   
33 Piotr Chmielewski (Mroz)                             
34 Krzysztof Ciesielski (Servisco-Koop)                 
35 Robert Radosz (Servisco-Koop)                        
36 Tomasz Brozyna (iBanesto.com)                        
37 Zbigniew Piatek (Mroz)                               
38 Marcin Sapa (Ambra Obuwie SNC Odziez)                
39 Sebastian Wolski (Team Nürnberger)                   
40 Tomasz Kloczko (CCC Polsat)                          
41 Jaroslaw Ryszewski (CCC Polsat)                      
42 Radoslaw Romanik (CCC Polsat)                        
43 Krzysztof Szafranski (CCC Polsat)                    
44 Marek Blazej (Legia Bazyliszek)                      
45 Jaroslaw Rebiewski (CCC Polsat)                      
46 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Team Nürnberger)                   
47 Marek Maciejewski (Servisco-Koop)                    
48 Daniel Czajkowski (Servisco-Koop)                       0.59
49 Tomasz Czapelski (CCC Olimpijczyk Konskie)              1.05
50 Pawel Adamczyk (Korona Kielce/GSC Blagnac)             
51 Marcin Kwasniewski (niestowarzyszony)                  
52 Artur Krasinski (Mikomax Browat Staropolski)            1.37
53 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Amore e Vita - Beretta)      
54 Mateusz Mroz (Mroz)                              
55 Tomasz Kiendys (Mikomax Browar Staropolski)      
56 Jaroslaw Welniak (Legia Bazyliszek)              
57 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Mroz)                         
58 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Servisco-Koop)           

Starters: 86
Classified: 58
 
* Gronkiewicz (37 years old) has probably 
become the oldest champion of Poland!

** Bartlomiej Ksobiak (Servisco-Koop), who was third 
across the finish line, was disqualified "for holding 
to a team car (after mechanical)"  
 
Courtesy of Grzesiek Kaczmarzyk/www.gak56.prv.pl

Past winners

2001 Radoslaw Romanik (CCC-MAT)