Niewiadoma always believed in Mont Ventoux takeover: ‘Payback for all those second places’

Kasia Niewiadoma had looked strong throughout this Tour de France Femmes, but few will have expected her to take both the stage victory and a major step toward the yellow jersey on Mont Ventoux in stage 7. She put 1 minute and 16 seconds into Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), completing a spectacular double strike. And, as it turns out, Niewiadoma had seen something like this coming...

At first, Niewiadoma appeared to benefit from the physical and mental battle being fought between Vollering and yellow jersey wearer Marlen Reusser (Movistar) on the opening kilometres of Mont Ventoux. But once the 31-year-old Polish rider from CANYON//SRAM had ridden clear, it quickly became obvious that this was about much more than tactical games between her rivals.

Niewiadoma initially opened a gap of 20 seconds, and when Vollering tried to close it in one move, she managed to get within just six seconds. Niewiadoma accelerated again and finally broke the resistance behind her. Although Vollering and later Reusser continued pushing all the way toward the summit, Niewiadoma eventually left both of them well behind.

“I’ve been trying to picture this for the last two months, so I definitely had this in my head,” Niewiadoma said firmly at the summit of Mont Ventoux when speaking to her team. “I came here to recon it with my friends and my husband, and we had so much fun together. We dreamed about having a lead-out in the finale, so I had so many positive feelings today. I’m speechless. It’s mind-blowing.”

In the end, Niewiadoma did not even need a lead-out, because she already knew her attack had to come earlier. “I knew I had to be gone before the six-kilometre-to-go mark. From there it wasn’t flat, but it wasn’t steep either. But if I had an advantage there, I knew they would start looking at each other behind me with the headwind. It worked perfectly.”

Niewiadoma was arguably selling herself short with that explanation, because even when Vollering and Reusser finally decided to commit fully to the chase, the lone leader continued to extend her advantage. Only in the final part of the climb did the suffering truly begin. “I barely heard anything on the radio because I was in so much pain and so exhausted. I prayed it would happen. This is payback for all the second and third places I’ve had in my life.”

The Polish rider already won the Tour de France Femmes in 2024, but she did so without taking a stage victory. In the flash interview afterwards, she admitted just how much she had wanted to finally win a stage at the Tour. “I’m so grateful. This victory is for all the people who have always been there for me. I was so tired, but I wanted to make it happen, especially when I looked around and saw my parents standing there.”

“They had come as a surprise, and I saw my father standing at the side of the road crying. I had to keep going for them. I’ve been chasing this feeling — that’s why you always dig so deep. When I stood on top of Ventoux after the recon, I knew I wanted to win here. My team knows how much I’ve put into this victory. They stood by me and listened to all my complaining.”