Team Poland1 claimed the Team Relay gold medal at the 2026 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Kutchan, Japan, on Friday evening, 28 August 2026, defeating France1 and Canada3 in a tightly contested finish.
All three squads were timed at exactly 32 minutes 32 seconds over the 22.8-kilometre course, with each of the four riders completing three 1.9-kilometre laps. The winning average speed was 42.04 km/h.
Poland1 – Maciej Rogulski, Alina Myłka, Jakub Ruciński and Wojtek Szczepanik – was declared the winner ahead of France1 (Gwenaëlle Legendre, John Thomas, Gaël Poisson and Damien Degot) and Canada3 (Michelle Gagnon, Dominic Chalifoux, Bruce Bird and Chris Caruana). Szczepanik’s closing leg of 7 minutes 29 seconds was the fastest three-lap split of the evening, averaging 45.70 km/h.
Confirming that all the bikes were powered by humans, UCI commissaires inspected 89 bikes for technical fraud, also known as motor doping. Commissaires also noted that two riders were fined 50 Swiss francs each for incorrectly positioned race numbers: Italy’s Simone Donghi and, notably, Poland1’s Wojtek Szczepanik.
Poland1’s Maciej Rogulski was fined a further 100 Swiss francs for non-compliant clothing during the team’s podium obligations. None of the penalties affected the result, leaving Poland’s world champion rainbow jerseys and gold medals intact.
Slovenia and the Netherlands completed the top five, finishing 1 second and 3 seconds behind respectively. Seven teams – Japan2, Australia, Poland4, France, New Zealand, Great Britain2 and Hong Kong – were disqualified, while Canada2 and Germany did not finish. The commissaires’ communiqué did not detail the grounds for the disqualifications.
View Complete UCI Gran Fondo World Championship results HERE
Photo Credit: Hokkaido Events KK
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