The Most Famous

CYCLISTS from Poland

This page contains a list of the greatest Polish Cyclists. The pantheon dataset contains 1,613 Cyclists, 18 of which were born in Poland. This makes Poland the birth place of the 14th most number of Cyclists behind Russia, and Colombia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Polish Cyclists of all time. This list of famous Polish Cyclists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Polish Cyclists.

1. Ryszard Szurkowski (1946 - 2021)

With an HPI of 47.42, Ryszard Szurkowski is the most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Ryszard Jan Szurkowski (12 January 1946 – 1 February 2021) was a Polish road bicycle racer, widely regarded as a legend of the sport in Poland.

2. Józef Lange (1897 - 1972)

With an HPI of 43.73, Józef Lange is the 2nd most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Józef Lange (16 March 1897 – 11 August 1972) was a Polish cyclist. He competed in two events at the 1924 Summer Olympics winning a silver medal in the men's team pursuit. He also competed in two events at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

3. Tomasz Stankiewicz (1902 - 1940)

With an HPI of 42.83, Tomasz Stankiewicz is the 3rd most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Tomasz Stankiewicz (28 December 1902 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish track cyclist who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was born in Warsaw and died in Palmiry, executed by Nazis. In 1924 he won the silver as member of the Polish team in the team pursuit.

4. Jürgen Colombo (b. 1949)

With an HPI of 41.44, Jürgen Colombo is the 4th most famous Polish Cyclist. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Jürgen Colombo (born 2 September 1949) is a retired track cyclist from West Germany, who won the gold medal in the Men's 4000m Team Pursuit at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, alongside Günther Schumacher, Günter Haritz, and Udo Hempel.

5. Zbigniew Spruch (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 41.36, Zbigniew Spruch is the 5th most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Zbigniew Spruch (born 13 December 1965 in Kożuchów) is a Polish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de Pologne in 1995 and placed second at the 2000 UCI Road World Championships. Spruch had was a professional cyclist for 12 year's, starting at the Lampre–Colnago team in 1992 with a two year stint at Mapei–GB for 1997 & 1998. He then finished his career back at the newly founded Lampre–Daikin squad. Spruch only achieved three professional wins in his career but amassed over 120 amateur victories.

6. Zenon Jaskuła (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 41.34, Zenon Jaskuła is the 6th most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Zenon Jaskuła (born 4 June 1962) is a Polish former professional racing cyclist from Śrem, who was active in the 1990s. He won stage 16 and finished third overall in the 1993 Tour de France. He competed in the team time trial at the 1988 Summer Olympics winning a silver medal.

7. Michał Kwiatkowski (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 39.24, Michał Kwiatkowski is the 7th most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Michał Kwiatkowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmixaw kfjatˈkɔfski], born 2 June 1990) is a Polish professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers. Kwiatkowski is seen as a strong all rounder, with good sprinting, time-trialling and climbing abilities allowing him to win both stage races and one day classics. His talent was shown early in his career, winning the World Junior Time Trial Championships in 2008. In 2014, Kwiatkowski became the world elite road race champion, and he was also a member of the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team that won the 2013 World Team Time Trial Championships. In 2017 he won his first 'Monument', Milan–San Remo, while in 2018, he won Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Pologne. He is a two-time winner of two of the most prestigious non-Monument classics, the Amstel Gold Race and the Strade Bianche.

8. Czesław Lang (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 39.03, Czesław Lang is the 8th most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Czesław Lang (born 17 May 1955 in Kołczygłowy) is a Polish former road racing cyclist. He was a bronze medalist at the 1977 UCI Road World Championships in San Cristóbal and a silver medalist at the 1979 UCI Road World Championships in Valkenburg, both in the men's amateur team time trial. He was also the winner of the 1980 edition of the Tour de Pologne. He competed for Poland at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union in the individual road race, where he finished in second place. Since 1993, he has been the Director of the Tour de Pologne.

9. Rafał Majka (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 38.12, Rafał Majka is the 9th most famous Polish Cyclist. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Rafał Majka (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrafaw ˈmajka]; born 12 September 1989) is a Polish professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. He is known as a strong climber, and rose to prominence at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, where he finished 7th overall, and 6th one year later; he has taken fifteen victories during his professional career. Other major achievements are three mountainous stage wins in the Tour de France, two victories in the mountains classification at the race (2014 and 2016), and two stages and the overall victory at the 2014 Tour de Pologne. He achieved his only Grand Tour podium finish at the 2015 Vuelta a España, where he finished third. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he won a bronze medal for Poland in the road race.

10. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 32.95, Katarzyna Niewiadoma is the 10th most famous Polish Cyclist. Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Katarzyna "Kasia" Niewiadoma (Polish pronunciation: [kataˈʐɨna ɲɛvjaˈdɔma]; born 29 September 1994) is a Polish racing cyclist who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Canyon–SRAM. Among her eighteen professional wins are the Tour de France Femmes in 2024, La Flèche Wallonne in 2024, the Amstel Gold Race in 2019, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio in 2018, and the Women's Tour in 2017. She twice finished third overall in the Tour de France Femmes, in 2022 and 2023, taking the Queen of the Mountains jersey in 2023. In 2023, she became UCI Gravel World Champion.

People

Pantheon has 29 people classified as Polish cyclists born between 1897 and 1998. Of these 29, 26 (89.66%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Polish cyclists include Jürgen Colombo, Zbigniew Spruch, and Zenon Jaskuła. The most famous deceased Polish cyclists include Ryszard Szurkowski, Józef Lange, and Tomasz Stankiewicz. As of April 2024, 11 new Polish cyclists have been added to Pantheon including Zbigniew Spruch, Wiktoria Pikulik, and Krzysztof Maksel.