Continuing the strand of beautiful weather, except for the one horrible day, we woke up to a different season on Sunday. The skies were clear and the are was fresh, fall had began here in the south of Poland. With a late afternoon start I had all morning to enjoy it. We had a very rough two hour transfer to the start. The roads are probably the worst I have ever seen, yet there are zero potholes. They just seem to patch everything and now none of the roads flow smoothly. It is not the ideal way to arrive to the start line, on the verge of some serious car sickness, but you learn to deal with it.

The last stage absolutely flew by. A big group of GC threats got up the road so there was never any down time in the bunch and before I knew it we were in Krakow city limits and on the finishing circuit. The team rode very well, maybe the best we have all week, and Andre Greipel repaid us with our 3rd stage win. We were a little slow to get started early in the week, but in the end we came out with three stage wins and a podium in the overall!

After the race we all rushed off to the hotel for a quick shower and then straight back on the bus to head to a banquet the race was having for us. I had heard it was always held in an old salt mine outside Krakow, but I had no idea what we would be in for. When we arrived we took a very small elevator down 400 feet underground into a series(300+ kilometers) of tunnels. The English speaking riders had their own guide who took us through a short tour of the area. We walked down several more flights of stairs and through numerous doors, each holding a different story all told through hand carved statues of salt. Each statue was incredibly detailed and took years to complete by the miners. The whole time I am listening to the guide I can’t help but think how you could spend your whole life down in these mines chipping away at salt and then still be motivated to make these carvings in your spare time? It is certainly a place worth checking out. There is just so much history in the mine and in Krakow for that matter that I hope to return next year for another look. After the tour we headed through a massive church and into a huge banquet hall, still deep within the mine. There we watched clips from the race and had a small awards ceremony. It was a really cool way to finish off the week and it just showed how supportive Poland is of cycling. Truly one of the nicest races on the calendar.