Polish cyclist Kasia Niewiadoma is used to coming oh-so-close to victories. Despite the strong start to her career in 2018, race wins were hard to come by from 2020 to 2024, when the only race Niewiadoma won was the 2023 Gravel World Championships. Until now. On Sunday, Niewiadoma finally got that elusive victory that she had been dreaming about in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the biggest stage of all. And it’s about to change everything for her.
How it Happened
Niewiadoma told Escape Collective after the race that she “need[s] time to let everything sink in” and “actually [realize] what just happened.” After such a mentally draining drought of victories, this moment felt like “a dream come true.” But even this Tour wasn’t all smooth sailing either. “For a second, I lost faith that I could still do it,” Niewiadoma said about the final climb at Alpe D’Huez, when Demi Vollering was on her back.
But that’s where Niewiadoma has grown in her mental approach from her younger days and prior races to now. Even though “the climb was very hard,” Niewiadoma “just knew that [she] had to stay patient and keep [her] pace.” She added that “on the descent, I was able to refuel, and I felt like I regained my power,” both physically and mentally. Somewhere in the midst of the resilience, Niewadoma kept getting better and better. Nearly winless for almost half a decade, the challenge of the Tour de France instilled something in her that she finally found when she won the championship.
What was Different This Time Around
Although he was overwhelmed with emotions after the race, Canyon-SRAM Sports Director Adam Szabó knew just how much Niewiadoma has improved recently. “The last few years made a big difference in her training approach and I think we changed quite a bit in the team structure,” Szabó said. “We’ve grown as a team a lot and that has helped.”
“Four seconds seems to be magical now.”
“Throughout my whole career, there were so many times I would miss out on the victory because of something and I feel like this week was perfect for me and my team,” Niewiadoma said after her win. So what helped her finally get that win that she has been chasing for so long? According to Niewiadoma, she was “able to stay cool and focus on our goal. In order to be able to win big races you need everything on your side.” This message teaches us that we can only control what we can control, and your mindset, effort, and preparation are three keys to success.
Now that she is a Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion, Niewiadoma can experience the joys of winning that she’s often been missing. “I am really looking forward to going to the team bus, celebrating with my girls, and actually realizing what just happened,” she said. Sometimes that missing spark we need to stay faithful to ourselves and keep believing is simply the people right around us. It just takes a victory, small or big, for us to see it in action.
The Future of Women’s Cycling
The final stage of the race, Alpe d’Huez, attracted almost a million viewers at a whopping 923,000, which was just short of the final stage of the men’s race at 957,000. It’s likely that the narrowest margin in tour history will play a role in increasing VISibility to the women’s side of cycling, even in countries where other sports generally take precedence, like the United States. While Niewiadoma might have always felt disappointed as she saw victory after victory slip out of her hands, this championship will stand for something bigger when we look back in the history books.
“Four seconds seem to be magical now,” Niewiadoma said. And it was these four magical seconds that not only secured her the championship, but it was also the VISibility she brought to her sport. For the younger generation of girls watching her who might now have a newfound love of cycling, Niewiadoma teaches all of us about how to stay true to yourself and your teammates no matter what you’ve experienced in the past. Each day is a new day, and you get to choose your destiny.
