The 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), wears the bib number 1 and has the clear goal of winning the race again, with stage 6 bringing the first real mountain test for the overall contenders.
The Polish allrounder was happy to see a selection in the peloton after a couple of chaotic, often crash-marred first stages, and she is hitting her top form with perfect timing ahead of the mountainous final few days of racing.
“Right now, I’m more mentally tired from being in this crazy peloton than physically from doing all the efforts. It was nice to have a smaller group due to the climbs. I think it was a good stage for us. We tried to stay together as much as possible. I always had teammates around me, so that was perfect,” said Niewiadoma-Phinney after the stage.
The 30-year-old finished towards the back of the favourites’ group, crossing the line in 12th place, but she and Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) had tried to anticipate the faster finishers in Ambert.
“There's an opportunity for both of us to, like, rip the corners. We always do it, and I knew she was going to go for it. Unfortunately, it was still quite far from the last corner until the finish line. I guess if it was 200 metres, maybe we could have tried something,” Niewiadoma-Phinney explained the unsuccessful attempt to gain time in the final.
Earlier on the stage, Kerbaol and Niewiadoma-Phinney had showcased their downhill abilities on the descent from the Col du Béal, but it was too far from the finish to capitalise on the move.
However, Niewiadoma-Phinney picked up two bonus seconds at the bonus sprint in Valcivières atop the final climb of the day, and this was enough to leapfrog Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in the general classification.
She is now third overall, 30 seconds behind yellow jersey Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) and one second ahead of Vollering with the three hardest stages of the race still to come. And Niewiadoma-Phinney is hitting peak form just at the right time.
“Sometimes, it takes a while for your legs to open up. At first, I didn’t feel like I was fresh, but the longer we raced, the better I felt. That’s something that I need to keep in mind for the remaining stages,” she said.
Niewiadoma-Phinney’s teammate Ricarda Bauernfeind can see the same.
“I think she’s in super good form. I’m sometimes at the back of the group, so I have a good overview of how everyone is looking and how they’re pedalling. And Kasia looks the best, so I’m really looking forward [to the next stages] and hope that we can take the yellow jersey. It definitely gives me some extra motivation to push one minute more,” said Bauernfeind.
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