Reigning Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) is well back in the mix for the GC again this July after making the elite selection on a hilly stage 5 into Guéret on Wednesday. However, the Pole had one regret from the stage after finishing fourth in the lead group of seven.
Niewiadoma-Phinney had been among the strongest on the final climb of the day, the third-category Le Maupuy, to land two bonus seconds, but she had less luck in the closing sprint.
Riding Kim Le Court-Pienaar's ( AG Insurance-Soudal) wheel in the final kilometre, she hit the front with 500 metres to go but later admitted that she made a mistake on the run to the line, ending up fourth and missing out on more bonus seconds.
"To be honest, I kind of lost the momentum," Niewiadoma-Phinney said after the stage. "As Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) attacked at 700 metres to go, we launched into the corner to the left and I was like 'oh, I'm in perfect position with a lot of speed.'
"But then it was like 400 metres to go, and Kim stopped, and I also braked. I'm not a pure sprinter, as everyone knows, and nowhere to be a sprinter, but at least there I had a good position.
"So, I just kind of regret maybe not trying and using the momentum instead of breaking and staying on the wheel because even when you're on the wheel of somebody who's fast, you stay on the wheel."
Niewiadoma-Phinney won the Tour last year with a margin of just four seconds over Demi Vollering (now with FDJ-SUEZ). With the mountains looming after five stages of this year's race, she lies fourth overall, 24 seconds off stage winner and new leader Le Court-Pienaar and one down on Vollering.
She and the rest of the GC favourites are fully aware of the importance of bonus seconds at this year's race, with Le Court-Pienaar having racked up 26 so far. Niewiadoma-Phinney's two atop Le Maupuy were her first of the race, and she, more than anyone, knows that they could end up making all the difference.
"I think that everyone remembers last year's edition, where actually it was about seconds in the end," she said. "You never know what can happen in the end, so if you can see some seconds, it seems like everyone is ready to embrace that."
Niewiadoma-Phinney finished in the lead group along with podium finishers Le Court-Pienaar, Vollering, and Van der Breggen at the end of the 165.8km run from Futuroscope, while Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) also made the cut.
The stage provided a real slimming down of the GC contenders at this year's race, with a clear hierarchy having emerged on the hilly days in Brittany and Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Niewiadoma-Phinney said she hadn't learned so much yet, given that the "hardest is yet to come." A natural climber, she's relishing the mountains of the Massif Central and the Alps.
"I think that now the fun part starts, right? With more climbs," she said, before noting that such a selection came as a surprise on the hills of stage 5. The race, already, has taken its toll on the peloton.
"I was surprised that on such a short climb, there were only like – I don't know how many. It was a short climb but not intense," she said. "I feel like maybe the peloton is already feeling the five stages, or just feeling that stress.
"It's not only hard physically, but very mentally as well, with all the 'washing machine' situations happening all the time from the start until the finish. It's not that you stay in one place and you chill, it's like, constantly, constantly, constantly fighting for position."
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