Michal Kwiatkowski won the Italian Classic Strade Bianche this past weekend, an important addition to the Polish Champion's palmares. After winning the race solo by counter attacking Peter Sagan in the final kilometer, Kwiato had much to say about the race, his victory, and what is next on his calendar in the blog entry below.
I'm still smiling about my victory. To be honest, I was told about the finale in Piazza del Campo (Siena) by my Polish teammate Michal Golas. So I knew already that it was beautiful and full of history. So, to arrive in a place like that with fans everywhere, in one of the most important moments of my career, I could appreciate it even more.
As for the race, it was far from easy to get to the final with Peter Sagan. In one of the longest sections at 80km to go or so I had a flat tire. I was in the front and it was a nervous moment. I was thinking that I really need to be in the front. But Peta stopped with me, gave me his wheel, Mark took me back to the front and I caught the front at 3km left in a 10km section. It was a nervous moment because about half of the peloton was already dropped and with a strong crosswind it was really dangerous. I could lose the race there. But I made it back thanks to my teammates. At 50km to go, the race got going and we had five guys in the front. We could play our cards. We started to pull as we had 22 guys in the front. But, Matteo attacked and it was a good move as we didn't have to work anymore. I was just waiting then for the move of a guy like Cancellara or Sagan. Then when we caught up to Matteo, on the little climb, Sagan attacked from the back so he had speed on the climb. I was waiting for the move of Cancellara more as he was in the front. I was just behind him when Sagan went. I went behind him and we worked all the way to the last kilometer. But, some people may not realize that Sagan and I have experiences in a good fight like this. We had several moments like this as juniors! To end up in this position with him may be a surprise for some, but certainly not for me. It's always nice to compete with him in the final, almost like a rivalry.
This season has been really successful, but also really busy. I have only seen my girlfriend a few times in three months. But it is part of the job and I am happy to see all the hard work I did this winter paying off so early in the season.
Now, at Tirreno-Adriatico, I want to do my best again. We just did the recon of the TTT in San Vincenzo. It's a fast race, and a nice parcours. We will see what happens. I finished 4th last year. We will have some good guys with Cavendish, Martin, Uran. We have a good lineup. We will see how it goes. The secret of this team is that we are always motivated. It keeps the morale high. As for me, my focus has been on the GC of races this year. Tirreno-Adriatico will be one of the best checks for how I am doing this year. Strade Bianche gave me great motivation and confidence, so I will see how I can do in a WorldTour stage race.
See you everybody!
Michal