Kasia Niewiadoma finished fourth in today’s La Course by Le Tour de France in Nice, France. The 96km race was on from the start and after the second time up the climb, it was a six-rider breakaway that would go on to fight for the win. The UCI Women’s WorldTour race was won by Lizzie Deignan (TFS), in a bike throw over Marianne Vos (CCC) and Demi Vollering (PHV) in third. Kasia finished just behind in fourth place.

Sport Director, Rolf Aldag explained the race. “It was intense right from the start. The peloton took it on from the first lap on the climb, and that riders were already dropped showed what type of tempo it was.”

“After the first descent everyone saw what damage the downhill could do. The second time on the climb you needed to go full up it, in order to be in the front for the descent. Those with the best climbing and descending skills made that final group. With the course and how it was raced, it made it hard to make it a bigger group for the sprint.”

“Kasia influenced the race and that’s super pleasing. She, with Longo-Borghini, were the only two who were in the front breakaway group both times. Her skills qualified her to be in the contention for a good result,” explained Rolf.

Kasia continued, “The race felt really nice. We expected that it would be a fast race from the start. It was hard, but we had good numbers the first time on the climb. On the descent I created a small group, and it was a tricky and challenging on the downhill, especially because then it had started to rain. We were caught just before the start of the second lap and again it was raced fast.”

“I was hoping that the group with Hannah Barnes would be able to come back to us so that Hannah could go for the sprint. But in the end, I had to do my best and I made it to fourth place. I’m feeling a bit gutted, as I was really dreaming about third place. Overall, we had a great fighting spirit today and I think we raced well” said Kasia.

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