OPQS asked young Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski to talk about how he's been doing since his outstanding performance at the Tour de France, including several stages in the white jersey, a podium stage finish, and an 11th place finish in the GC. The text below is what he had to say while he was a guest at Tour de Pologne.
Now I realized for sure that I've become more famous here in Poland since the Tour de France. Everyone recognized me and that's amazing. I never expected everyone would want a picture with me, or would want my autograph. Even on the road, or people in the restaurants in my hometown. Normal people recognize me. It's something new. But anyway, I'm really thankful for my fans and spectators. They really helped me during the races and during my whole career. The Polish fans are amazing.
The Tour de France, people asked me if I could make it something better for myself. I said, I did even more than I expected and am really happy about my performance and my results, as well as the results of the team at the Tour. I know this race now and for sure I want to come back because it is an amazing race and I had good memories.
As for the rest of the year, it's hard to say if I can be back in my good shape as I had at the beginning of the season. Because I was already good from January until July. It's going to be difficult, but the good motivation until the end of the season is the World Championships — the team time trial, and the individual time trial. I don't know yet about the road race. I will try to be selected and prepare as much as I can for this race and hope it will be a good way to finish out the season.
As of right now, things are really busy at the Tour of Poland. I am here visiting and I am always busy with interviews and things like that. Things have really changed since the Tour. This is really a new experience and I have to gain this experience of interacting with fans and media because it's necessary. As a maturing rider I know how important engaging is, especially social media and things like that.
Thanks everybody!
Michal