For Daria Pikulik, the month of January has been an eventful one: She started her contract with Women’s WorldTour team Human Powered Health, then celebrated her 26th birthday and travelled to Australia for the first race with her new team. Then after a 10th place in the Schwalbe Classic criterium, Pikulik sprinted to victory on stage 1 of the Women’s Tour Down Under.
In the post-race interview, Pikulik’s mind oscillated between disbelief and elation: “I can’t believe it, for me it is a dream come true. I’m just a Polish girl, now I am in the WorldTour and win this race,” she said.
Going into the race, her team saw a chance for a good result, but she didn’t expect to win.
“We know that I am a fast girl and can sprint because this is a flat stage. We could sit together in the race and do a really good job to keep me in the front in the last kilometres, and when I crossed the line, I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I won’,” Pikulik told reporters after receiving the ochre jersey on the podium.
Coming to Australia from Europe to race in a peloton composed mainly of Australians and New Zealanders who had the advantage of training in the southern hemisphere summer, Pikulik wasn’t sure of her form, but the first road stage dispelled her doubts.
“I didn’t know how I would feel because we got to Australia four days before the race, there is jetlag, and I come from the winter, in Poland it’s really cold, so the heat here is different, but in the race today I didn’t feel that anything was wrong,” Pikulik explained.
Pikulik raced well in the hectic final, joining the front group that formed in the crosswinds with 10 km to go together with her teammate Lily Williams. When that move was neutralised, Williams and Kaia Schmid kept Pikulik at the front of the race, and the Polish rider could wind up her sprint in the slipstream of FDJ-Suez’ Clara Copponi before launching off Copponi’s wheel. Pikulik took a brief glance to the line at the 100-metre mark to gauge the distance left, then put her head down to pull away, winning a bike length ahead of Copponi and Georgia Baker (Team Jayco-AlUla).
The final with echelons and corners worked to Pikulik’s advantage:
“In Poland, I live near to the sea. When I’m training, it’s windy all day, so for me it’s no problem to keep the position in the wind, to keep my balance on the bike. I like finishes like this, not just flat, but with some challenges, hectic, with corners. I am also a track rider, so I like it like that.”
After a road season with Cervélo-Bigla as a 20-year-old in 2017, Pikulik prioritised track cycling for several years. She established herself as a track rider, winning medals at World Cups and European and World Championships in the Omnium, Madison, and Team Pursuit.
For 2022, she decided to give the road another try and had a successful season with Polish Continental Team ATOM Deweloper Posciellux.pl Wrocław, winning the 2 Districtenpijl - Ekeren Deurne and reaching the top-5 in four stages of the Baloise Ladies Tour, beating names such as Chloe Hosking or Alison Jackson. These and other results attracted the attention of Women’s WorldTour outfit Human Powered Health who signed Pikulik and put their faith in her in the first race of the season – with good reason as she took the team’s first Women’s WorldTour victory.
“I tried to save a lot of energy during the race. We just stayed in the pack to keep my legs really fresh for the finish. The whole team believed that I could win today, it’s a really nice feeling that the team believed in me because this is my first race with the team, my first race with WorldTour teams. Wearing the leader’s jersey gives me a lot of good energy for tomorrow,” Pikulik finished.
Stage 2 from Birdwood to Uraidla is hillier than stage 1, with the challenging climb of Mount Lofty cresting 10 km from the line. Pikulik has said that she will try her best to keep the leader’s jersey, but she will have her work cut out for her.
