ANTONIA 4TH ON GC IN VALENCIA AFTER IMPRESSIVE CLIMBING DISPLAYS

After a wind-disrupted four days at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Antonia Niedermaier made the most of the limited climbing opportunities on the final stage to secure 4th on GC, following a 5th-place finish from a small breakaway.

In a déjà vu moment from the key climb on stage one, where Antonia was the only rider able to follow Vollering (TFS) before she soloed to victory, the pair escaped again on the first and final ascent of stage four (5.4km at 4.9%). This time, Vollering was unable to shake Antonia, although the remaining distance to the finish was double – 32km. With 15km to go, they were joined by Lippert (MOV), Squiban (UAD), and Ottestad (UXM), forming a quintet that held off a re-formed and charging peloton, which cut their lead from 45 to 15 seconds in the final 7km.

With stage one ending in a small bunch sprint behind Vollering and the mountainous queen stage three cancelled, Antonia had few opportunities to influence the GC. That made her performance on a course often favouring a bunch sprint – where Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka had taken 3rd in 2025 – even more rewarding, despite finishing on the same overall time as third and placing fourth on stage count-back.

Reflecting on a positive start to her 2026 season, with her climbing legs clearly already well-tuned, Antonia said:

“The stage was quite hectic – always on off, on off, in the flat sections. We had Maike in the breakaway, so that was quite a good situation for us because we didn’t have to chase. Then on the climb, it was just exploding. FDJ [FDJ-UNITED Suez] made a hard tempo, and somehow I managed to stay on Demi’s [Vollering] wheel.”

“I actually surprised myself because I was not feeling well yesterday, so I’m even more happy that I could stay on her wheel. I was alone with her for a little bit in the downhill and on the flat, and then we got caught by three others. We made it to the finish line with a little gap to the big group. I’m actually happy that we just finished this race without any big crashes, because the wind was crazy the last few days.”

“It shows me that I’m actually doing good training, and that I’m going in the right direction with it, so I hope that there’s more to come. Let’s see what this year is giving me and what I can reach.”

As Antonia noted, conditions for the 117km stage were breezy, but Dutchwoman Maike van der Duin thrived, joining a four-rider group that held a lead of over four minutes at one point before being reeled in on the slopes of the stage-defining ascent. Returning to racing after health issues kept her away since June 2025, it was great to see Maike back in the thick of the action. Antonia also praised the teamwork and cohesion shown by the seven-rider squad across the three race-days, with Agnieszka posting a strong result of her own, finishing 6th on stage two.

“Today was actually alright, but I’m just happy that we did a good race – we always worked together as team, so it’s quite nice to see the improvement, also compared to last year.” Antonia reflected. “We’re getting better at riding together in the peloton and finding each other – we’ve improved in this a lot.”

Both the WorldTeam and Generation teams of CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto will now embark on their second and final pre-season camps, also in the Valencia region, before the racing continues on Belgium’s opening weekend with Omloop Nieuwsblad (February 28).