Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was all smiles after stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes. Despite being out-sprinted in Belleville-en-Beaujolais by Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) and race leader Marlen Reusser (Movistar), the Polish rider finds herself in a firm podium position in the GC standings.
The three riders clipped away from all of the other overall contenders on the late ascent of Mont Brouilly and left behind favourites such as defending Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), who lost 2:35, and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team l'IMAD), who shed 1:43.
The Polish rider hit out with 350 metres to go in an attempt to surprise Vollering and Reusser, but as she began to fade in the last 100 metres, Vollering came storming past with Reusser on her wheel, and Niewiadoma-Phinney had to settle for third.
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"I'm definitely happy that I gave my best - everything I had. There are no regrets, nothing that I could have or should have done differently," Niewiadoma-Phinney said to reporters after the finish. "I knew that maybe I could try something different instead of just waiting for the last 200 meters and then get out-sprinted. Everyone knows Demi is one of the fastest in the world, so you have to look for your opportunities elsewhere."
In the overall standings, Reusser remains in the lead with Vollering 12 seconds behind. Niewiadoma-Phinney is third overall at 1:17, with the rest of the peloton almost three minutes down on the maillot jaune, which helped take the sting off her sprint defeat.
"Honestly, I've been losing sprints in my life so many times, so in the sprint, I was always looking at all the different scenarios. So when we were doing the break, I was like, if I arrive for the finishing moment, then I just need to go from the corner. Maybe if there was a little more luck involved, I would get it, but I'm still happy with how the team rode - having Antonia [Niedermaier] in the breakaway, and then me in the final; it was all perfect.
"The whole day was like up and down, plus the crazy heat - it was definitely not an easy day in the office. Then this massive breakaway went away, and I was a little stressed. But once the girls started riding, I could just sit on, and Antonia was in the front, so she could sit on. I thought, 'OK, this is the best situation for us'. Then of course, on the second last climb, I knew it was gonna be all out, and it was."
Niedermaier was sixth on the stage at 45 seconds, and now lies fourth at 2:40, giving Canyon-SRAM more tactical opportunities for the last four stages.
"We definitely can play with it," Niewiadoma-Phinney said of the standings. "I will definitely take it day by day, see how the recovery goes, and what we can get from this stage. The Tour is a very special and important race for us, for our team, so we always aim for the best result possible. I definitely dream of winning the [yellow] jersey again. That's the main goal. And whatever comes, as long as we do our best, then it's all good, because we came here to fight, and we've shown so far that we are fighting. Hopefully, we will celebrate big on Sunday."
While Canyon-SRAM's GC hopes are still intact, the same cannot be said for Ferrand-Prévot, who has all but admitted her defense was over.
Niewiadoma-Phinney was sympathetic to the Frenchwoman's plight after being unable to defend her 2024 Tour de France title last year.
"The Tour is very specific. When you look at the past editions, you only have one winner - it's really hard to defend it, whether it comes from people expecting you to do the same, and weird pressure. It's not an easy one to prepare for. I don't know what's going on with [Ferrand-Prévot] or how her preparation went, but each year you have to invest more and more in order to be able to fight for the podium, even.
"Before the last stage each year, I was just very stressed because anything could have changed. So, it's gonna be the same this year. I know that maybe Mont Ventoux will create bigger gaps, but then the last stages... It's so hard, and that anything can also happen there. It's not that we just have a friendly stage in Paris, you know?"
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