For a successful rider in their thirties like Michał Kwiatkowski, every time a new season swings around, it can feel like a game of diminishing returns.
While Kwiatkowski will turn 34 in June, his rivals appear to be younger, stronger and more audacious. At the same time the other demands of professional cycling - months away from family, long days of training, just to name two - remain equally significant.
Physiological logic suggests that the longer you’ve spent at the summit of the sport, the greater the chances of falling by the wayside as a new generation takes over. Yet Kwiatkowski remains a leader and servant at Ineos Grenadiers. He can win the biggest races but also guide his teammates to major victories.
As Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Ben Swift have grown into experienced veterans, Kwiatkowski has become a trusted cornerstone of the British super team, both a respected team leader and vital domestique.
2024 marks the tenth anniversary of Kwiatkowski’s breakthrough World Championships triumph in Ponferrada, Spain but there is no sign of him wanting to give in to Old Father Time just yet.
At the last Tour de France Kwiatkowski showed the versatility that’s always characterised his career when he took his first-ever summit finish victory in a Grand Tour at the Grand Colombier. He has twice won Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race, beat Peter Sagan and Julian Alaphilippe to win Milan-San Remo in 2017 and has a palmares packed with other big-race victories.
Kwiatkowski kicked off his 2024 season at the Vuelta Murcia and the Clásica Jaen, riding aggressively in both races to finish fourth and seventh. He is far from done in his career and still competitive with the young riders he calls ‘the bullets.’
They include Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar but also his many talented young teammates at Ineos Grenadiers. Tom Pidcock has openly praised Kwiatkowski for his support and guidance in races.
“I always say that a third Strade Bianche would be a dream but it’s still so early in the season, so I just hope I can be competitive,” the Polish rider tells Cyclingnews with his ever-optimistic attitude.
“It’s hard to compete with these ‘bullets’ you get in the peloton, the young guys are really dynamic. Maybe now Strade Bianche is a longer race; it'll suit me better.”
“Before the end of my career, it’d be nice to be competitive in the Olympics and go for a medal maybe. I still haven’t got stages in the Giro and Vuelta so maybe that’s a goal for the future, too.”
Kwiatkowski has leadership moments but plays a vital part in helping the young ‘bullets’ at Ineos Grenadiers.
“I know I’m a key part in delivering the victories for a team so that’s motivation in itself as well,” Kwiatkowski explains.
“I’m not really looking only at my own race programme. I want to be part of a winning team and it’s great to be surrounded by strong guys I can ride for, and they’re guys who support me when I need it as well.”
Kwiatkowski finished fourth in Murcia after a long, tenacious pursuit of the three breakaways of the day, and then seventh in Jaén, where he put in some impressive late attacks in the main bunch, despite a mechanical.
Kwiatkowski’s early form and results are built on a solid winter of training.
“I took a slightly different approach to the year with a little bit more time for preparation and a slightly later start. I think it went quite well, no sicknesses and I like this approach more. I feel like I’m better when I’m at races, not there to use them as training rides, so I’m happy about that as well,” he says.
The key pillars of Kwiatkowski’s 2024 season
Kwiatkowski’s later start to the 2024 season has a lot to do with his long season, where the Tour de France, the Olympics and the Vuelta make for a backloaded programme.
Rather than the Volta ao Algarve, which he’s won twice in the past in 2014 and 2018, his next race will be O Gran Camiño, where his path will cross with more exclusively Grand Tour orientated kind of racers like Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike).
After that, it’s straight to Strade Bianche and chasing that third victory.
“I’m taking an easy approach in the spring but it’s not as easy as you might think,” Kwiatkowski points out.
“The Ardennes are the biggest motivation, but I want to be in pretty good shape as well for Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo” - all three races he’s won in the past.
“That’s kind of two key pillars at the beginning of my programme. After that, I’d like to have a lot of strength and energy for the Tour and then it’ll depend on how much is left in the tank for the end of the season.”
Regarding the Olympics, where only one rider will be racing for Poland - most likely himself - Kwiatkowski says he will be fighting an unusual solo battle.
“It’ll be a completely different race to any other on the calendar but what can I do?” he asks rhetorically.
“I’ll have to be in the best shape possible, and then do my best in the kind of weird, 90-guy peloton race it is on my own. Not that I’m not really focussing on that, it’s more about being in the best shape possible and then the race will decide.”
As for the preceding Tour de France, Kwiatkowski hopes he will be able to balance his own personal ambitions with protecting his GC teammates, much as he’s done in the past like in 2023 when he conquered the Grand Colombier from the break.
“I think I can easily combine the two,” he said. “Obviously Tom Pidcock and Carlos Rodriguez are developing well as GC riders and can be up there with the best guys on the climbs but we can look at other opportunities ourselves too."
A true master and servant.
