Niewiadoma has no illusions ahead of Tour de France Femmes time trial: ‘That’s no secret’

Alongside the time-trial specialists, all eyes during Tuesday’s Tour de France Femmes will be firmly fixed on the general-classification contenders. Several powerful riders will hope to gain time in the individual time trial, but Kasia Niewiadoma is under no such illusion. Speaking to Cyclingnews, the Canyon//SRAM rider was extremely clear about her ambitions for the stage.

Following Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset’s surprise victory on Monday, Niewiadoma remains well placed in eighth overall. She is on the same time as the biggest names in the battle for the general classification, and she would dearly like that still to be the case after Tuesday’s time trial. The 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner is therefore focused primarily on limiting the damage.

“It is no secret that I am not a time-trial specialist, so my personal target is to keep the time loss as small as possible,” Niewiadoma said on Monday. “I know this is not where I am going to excel, so the aim is simply to give away as little time as I can.” That is despite a course which does not necessarily appear to have been designed exclusively for the pure specialists.

There is, after all, a climb around the halfway point. “Normally, I would say that you can gain time on the climb, but because of the characteristics of this particular course, the descent still requires you to keep pedalling. It is not a case of simply getting into position and cruising,” the Polish rider explained.

As Niewiadoma pointed out: “You still need to save some energy for the finish, and throughout the entire descent you do not want to give away too much time. In one sense that is frustrating, but in another it also makes it exciting to see what I can achieve.” Niewiadoma has nevertheless spent a considerable amount of time training on her time-trial bike.

As a result, she knows exactly what her approach will be. “I know I have the power, but I also know that my position was not quite right, or that I was unable to maintain that position. So I think I now just need to remain calm and ride fast.” She will have to hope that this approach allows her to keep her losses within manageable limits.

Should she concede more time than hoped, the Polish rider believes she can still recover it during the remaining stages. “Perhaps not against Demi, because she is obviously extremely strong, but with riders such as Marlen, I think we may be able to find opportunities to take time back from her,” Niewiadoma said, referring to Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser.

Whatever happens, Niewiadoma is maintaining a calm approach at this Tour de France Femmes. “So far, so good. There has not been any real chaos in the general classification yet. For the contenders, the first two stages were fairly typical: quite hectic and nervous in the peloton, but most of us still raced relatively conservatively,” she concluded.