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Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) has won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, keeping a four-second gap over Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) who attacked on the Col du Glandon and won the stage in Alpe d’Huez ahead of Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck).
Niewiadoma started the finishing climb 43 seconds behind the front duo and fought hard on the climb to defend her lead. On the last kilometres, Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) was the only one who could follow Niewiadoma’s pace, and the Frenchwoman outsprinted Niewiadoma for third place, 1:01 minutes behind the stage winner.
In the final GC, Niewiadoma wins by four seconds over Vollering and ten seconds over Rooijakkers.
“It’s so crazy, the whole stage was such a rollercoaster. I had a really bad moment on the Glandon but I was able to rebuild myself on the descent. And I was so lucky to have Lucinda Brand, I think we at Canyon-SRAM have to say thank you to Lidl-Trek because they did a great job also for us, bringing us closer to Demi and Pauliena.”
Describing her bad moment on the Col du Glandon in more detail, Niewiadoma continued: “I felt terrible at that moment, mentally and physically. On the descent, all of a sudden, I got my power back. It’s so weird how sometimes it happens, you crack, but then you just need a moment of relaxation and you get your power back. I just ate everything I had in my pockets, drank a lot of fluids, and then I thought, ‘okay, I’m ready to go again,’” she said.
“On Alpe d’Huez, I knew I had to pace myself and keep my best for the last five kilometres, just to minimise the gap as much as possible. To be honest, once again I lost the faith that I could do it. In the radio, they were screaming so much in the last two kilometres, I went through such a terrible time on this climb, I hated everything, to then finish and learn that I won the Tour de France is insane,” Niewiadoma said.
“It’s mindblowing because there are so many people I’m really grateful for, starting with my husband, my family, my friends, my whole team, and my coach Nate who put a lot of work to prepare me for that, and quite often he’s not really mentioned, so a big thank you especially to him. This victory goes to so many people who contributed to that victory,” Niewiadoma gave thanks to everyone who helped her along the way.
At the end of the interview, the 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner became almost philosophical, looking back at the 2023 edition and the recent Olympic road race.
“Life is insane. Last year I lost second place by less than a second, so now winning by a couple of seconds, I feel like, it’s all thanks to God who always has a plan for me, and, as life goes, there’s always something happening for certain reasons. I think that last year’s third place was there to reward me with this victory. And two weeks ago, I was so disappointed getting stuck behind the crash during the Olympics, now, due to a crash, I got some extra time. You never wish anyone any sort of bad luck, but it happens to everyone. This time, it didn’t happen to us, I’m grateful for that. I feel like all the stars aligned for my team and myself this week.”
More to come….
Results
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