Taylor Phinney links wife Kasia Niewiadoma’s emotions to Vollering crash at 2024 Tour Femmes

Taylor Phinney, the husband of Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, has reflected at length on Instagram on his partner’s victory atop Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France Femmes. Phinney, himself a former top-level rider and now preparing for a possible appearance at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, understandably struggled to contain his emotions during the dramatic finale.

Phinney picked out his most special moment of the day. “I got really, really emotional when she became so emotional while putting on the yellow jersey and when she was looking at it,” said the American, who himself wore the pink jersey at the 2012 Giro d’Italia and was a former under-23 world time trial champion.

“She told me that the first time she got it, she felt like it had happened because other riders had crashed,” he said, referring to Demi Vollering’s crash in the 2024 edition, when the Dutchwoman eventually finished second overall by just four seconds. “She felt like she had kind of accidentally been in the right position and ended up in that jersey. But this time, she really earned it.”

“When she attacked, Demi was looking the other way. The fact that she went at exactly that moment was just so badass,” Phinney enthused. “They hesitated again for a moment and then it was like: ‘No, you can’t be serious.’ Demi tries to get across, gets really close and tries to get Marlen to work with her, but then the gap starts growing again. Demi attacks one more time, but she can’t close it. I was just thinking: ‘No way, is this actually happening?!’”

“I honestly thought they were going to work together and ride a bit harder, but I think they were simply completely empty,” Phinney said of Niewiadoma’s two main pursuers, Vollering and Marlen Reusser. “Kasia was riding so smoothly. Something switched mentally and she basically thought: ‘See you guys, I’m going to do this on my own.’”

“I thought Demi was going to attack one more time. After that I did see them working together, but as soon as there was a crosswind, they immediately started putting each other in the wind again,” Phinney observed, pointing to an important detail that showed how the battle between Reusser and Vollering continued to influence their cooperation behind his wife.

And so, the preparation for the Tour de France Femmes paid off in spectacular fashion. “We rode Mont Ventoux twice in two days and she was just dreaming about it. In between, we were watching videos of Pantani and all those old images from the mountain. I think she simply had that dream in her head. When I spoke to her this morning, I already thought: ‘Mmm... okay, she’s focused. Let’s fucking go, man!’”

Phinney also revealed on Instagram the final message he had sent his partner. “Enjoy making history my love,” he wrote to Niewiadoma shortly before the start of the stage.