In his first season with Vacansoleil-DCM, Tomasz Marczynski has become increasingly impressive as a stage racing option for the Dutch squad. The Polish rider transferred in from his home country’s CCC Polsat-Polkowice outfit during the offseason and is getting his second Grand Tour ticket in his first WorldTour season.
Along with finishing eleven stages of the Giro d’Italia before crashing out with a broken rib, Marczynski has completed Flèche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Marczynski spoke with VeloNation in February about his career in professional cycling, and though he has since lost his Polish national title, the 27-year-old is hosting his coming out party in the Vuelta a España.
After taking an aggressive fourth place on stage nine, gaining three seconds on most of the primary favourites in the process, Marczynski sits in 13th place overall, less than 20 seconds outside the top ten. A 12th place on the difficult summit finish of Estación de Valdezcaray on stage four also helped set up his current standing.
Speaking to Sport.pl before stage nine, the Pole expressed his pleasure with his race so far, even fighting through adversity.
“So far, everything is going well,” Marczynski noted. “Although for two days I had a cold, first the throat, and then the cough. Fortunately, it’s going away.”
Vacansoleil-DCM entered the Vuelta with Giro d’Italia podium finisher Thomas De Gendt on the roster, and as the Belgian doesn’t have the same condition he had in the spring, Marczynski has found himself as the Dutch squad’s GC hope.
“I feel so good that I can now say that my goal is the general classification,” he stated. “Although this is only the first week of competition, and many things can happen in this race, especially since we face the most difficult stages in the final week. Today I am not the leader of the team. But team-mates are trying to help me on the road. Let’s see if the chances hold up for a top twenty in the general classification, and if they do not, I will try for success on a single stage.”
The Vacansoleil-DCM rider also mentioned his past in the Spanish region, which allowed him to take on his second Grand Tour in familiar territory.
“Knowledge of the area has secondary importance – the most important thing is my form,” he added. “But it was nice to return. I lived near Pamplona after all, and I’ve trained and raced in the Basque Country.”
Marczynski is reaping the benefits of a solid block of training during the Tour de France, before moving on to the Tour of Poland, where he won the mountains classification.
“I treated the Tour de Pologne as training,” he explained. “The last three weeks before the Vuelta I spent doing preparation in the Sierra Nevada. It made a difference. Never before in my career had I trained at those altitudes. I lived at 2200 metres and took roads between 1500 and 2700 metres. The results, so far, are excellent.
“It’s great to race with the best. It is the dream of everyone starting their cycling career. Completing this Vuelta near the front would be great.”