If we apply the phrase all’s well that ends well to Kasia Niewiadoma’s 2023 season, it would be fair to say this year has been super for the Canyon-SRAM rider. Her results have given a firm springboard to overhaul her rivals in 2024.
In the first half of her season she was not firing on all cylinders, having been somewhat conservative in her winter training. By her own admission, it is not always easy for Niewiadoma to find the sweet spot of being finely tuned enough to achieve consistently strong results through the first half of the season, dominated by the Classics.
Things had begun tentatively, with a 24th place at the Classics season opener Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, sixth at Strade Bianche, a target race for her in which she has been a runner-up multiple times in the past, and 15th at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, which she won in 2018.
“It’s always tricky to actually know how to prepare yourself for the Classics so that you don’t overdo it, but you have enough to sustain your performance from Strade Bianche at the beginning of March to Liège [Bastogne-Liège] at the end of April. I think, with my coach we were a bit too soft with the training because with every week I could feel I was getting stronger and by the time I was getting into good shape the Classics had finished!”
Niewiadoma had climbed up the results sheet by the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold, taking fifth and fourth, but It wasn’t until Itzulia in May, that the 29-year-old got her moment on the podium. Though her best results came during the Tour de France Femmes in July, where she finished in 3rd place on GC and won the Queen of the Mountains competition, after her strong performance in the fog on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet.
Niewiadoma recalls the stage where she came second to overall winner, Demi Vollering, fondly:
“On the Col d’Aspin when Annemiek [Van Vleuten] attacked I was able to stay with her – not only to hang on, but I felt like I could carry on, and that definitely gave me confidence. I was happy that I was able to stay away and the bunch never caught me, except for Demi.
“I was definitely happy with the Tour de France Femmes, especially with that particular stage. A lot of the time I would be dropped from Annemiek [Van Vleuten] when she put in an attack. So I worked on it in Andorra before the Tour de France Femmes, simulating her attacks or the way that she would ride and drop me, and the hard work paid off.”
From World Championships disappointment to…
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