“It could not have worked-out better on this very hard, very hot day”, the Danish-born Luxembourgian national summed-up the race after crossing the finish line. A distance of 79 kilometers (49 miles) and 2,300 meters (7546 feet) of elevation were scheduled for a field of riders that included the full world elite.
The first 15 km were almost flat, so all the climbs were scattered along the final 64 km. It was Nissen’s tactics to stay within the peloton and not to make any mistakes. This worked out perfectly, Nissen even wondered why none of the teams with several riders in the race tried to tear the field apart early in the race.
In the first long climb Nissen was well-positioned within the field. Steep ascends, some of them in a forest and temperatures over 30°C (86°F) turned the World Cup into quite a challenge and into an elimination race. The top group went smaller and smaller through the course of the race. A blessing in disguise was Nissen suffering a flat tire right in front of the technical zone. “My friend and race assistant Jean-Claude helped me to repair the damage in under a minute.”
This also resulted in Nissen trailing the leading trio by exactly one minute. 15 km before the finish he had finally caught up with the three, feeling like having wasted all energy for the day. “I focussed on recovering. In the final, 500-meter long climb before the finish I decided to go all in. I knew that I only had a chance to win if I did not have to sprint for it.”
On the top of the hill, Nissen had broken away from his competitors and, riding his STEVENS Sonora, continued to increase the gap to 20 seconds. “It was a fantastic feeling to cross the finish line first after such a gruelling race.”
At the finish Nissen raised his arms in victory celebrating the fourth World Cup win of his career and his first win in Poland at all. Because of this victory Nissen climbed in the UCI rankings by 16 spots to place 13. He will now stay in East-Central Europe for the upcoming UCI World Cup race in the Czech Republic on June 8th.
