Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney: Ventoux Stage Win is Payback

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was the one her closest Tour de France Femmes rivals should have been worried about.

Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering might pay the price for underestimating one of the generation’s most consistent riders – so often a podium finisher, so rarely a winner, even with her name in the record books next to the 2024 edition of the race.

The Polish climber showed all her strength, determination and experience on stage 7, finishing up Mont Ventoux.

The Canyon-SRAM captain, who had talked about “finding opportunities” pre-race in Lausanne, snatched another, coming away with the yellow jersey after a 9-kilometer raid.

“I knew I had to go away before 6ks to go because then it was kind of not flat, but less steep,” Niewiadoma-Phinney said afterwards.

“And I knew that if I had a gap there, then in the back they would gamble because we had a headwind. Nobody wants to ride in a headwind, so that worked out perfectly.”

Niewiadoma? More like Niewia-dominator, with the best climb performance in race history.

Ventoux victory is ‘payback’

Little wonder she was tearful on the podium. This is a lot bigger than even the Tour de France for a rider who often comes close but rarely tastes victory.

“This win is like I’ve paid back more of the second and third places I got in my life,” she said.

The Pole, who by her own admission has lost a lot of sprints in his career, remarkably had her first stage win of the 2020s.

Mentally, she had the upper hand, noticing pressure between Vollering and race leader Reusser.

“I could already see a couple of days ago that they were playing games,” the Pole said to Dutch outlet NOS.

A recon trip with a difference

Funnily enough, Niewiadoma-Phinney was literally doing just that on a June bike-packing trip with husband Taylor Phinney and friends.

“We just had such a beautiful fun ride. And we were dreaming alive, like we were doing a leadout into the final, we were just playing around,” she said.

“So I feel like that evoked so many good feelings in me and I just knew I wouldn’t regret it.”

This all-out August effort required a lot more suffering.

“There is just like a blank moment in your brain. You are just so tired, you in so much pain that I was just occasionally praying [laughs]… Please God, make it happen, finally I need to pull it off.”

Vollering sets up duel for the ages

She sure did.

As Vollering and Reusser refused to fully commit to the chase, her gap ticked up. Riding through the masses, body rocking and teeth gritted, at one point, the lead verged on 1:45. The rider who started the day in third, over a minute down, looked like she might put the race out of reach on one climb.

However, this Tour is far from over.

A Vollering acceleration in the final 600 meters reduced the gap by 36 seconds and sets up a thrilling finale.

Just fifteen seconds separate the two on GC.

Niewiadoma-Phinney is “definitely” expecting another duel with Vollering, who lost by just four seconds in 2024.

“Honestly, I’m super super happy that we have a strong team. We have Antonia [Niedermaier],” she added.

“That shows how wonderful, what an incredible and talented kind of rider she is,” she said of the helper sat in fifth place wearing the white jersey of best young rider.

Niedermaier hails ‘queen’ Niewiadoma-Phinney

Antonia Niedermaier returned the compliments. “She showed she can really win the Tour. Sure, it’s a long way to go to Nice, but we all believe in her.”

It seemed like Reusser and Vollering fatally underestimated their long-time rival. “They’re often looking at each other, sometimes they’re not really paying attention to what Kasia is doing,” the German said. “But I also think she is just really strong at the Tour this year. I don’t know if they could have kept up with her.”

She has been telling her since the start that she looks the strongest.

During her attack, she said these powerful words into the race radio to motivate her leader: “Kasia, you’re the strongest. I believe in you, you’re the queen.”