KASIA LANDS ON STAGE & GC PODIUM AT TOUR DE SUISSE

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney tackled the final stage of Tour de Suisse Women with hunger, passion and formidable climbing legs, emptying the tank to finish 3rd on the stage and 3rd in the general classification (GC).

The Polish champion was more than satisfied with her efforts on the day and with her five-stage campaign in general, as the sport’s biggest summer target edges ever closer.

“I think that I got what I came here for. There’s a massive goal this summer, and there are things I had to do in order to put myself in better shape. One of those things was coming to Tour de Suisse and trying different approaches to find my strengths – how can I ride later in a tour to have an advantage over others? So, I definitely learned many valuable lessons and I will go home smarter. I know what I still have to improve and what my strengths are, so I think that I got all the insights that I wanted. I definitely wished that I could have dropped Marlen [Reusser] today, to go for the stage victory, but she was too strong and I know that I gave my best. There was nothing extra I could add. When you know that you did your best, you just have to accept the final result.”

Following Friday’s mostly flat stage, where a sensational Zoe Bäckstedt delivered a memorable win for the team, and Saturday’s brutal individual time trial, Kasia arrived at the final stage highly motivated to animate a course tailor-made for the climbers.

The route immediately headed uphill, with the formidable Col de la Croix featuring three times throughout the stage. Riders first tackled a truncated 3.9km version (8.8% average) before returning for the full hors catégorie ascent (19.1km at 7%). The race then concluded 10.3km into a third and final passage of the climb. With more than 3000m of elevation gain packed into just 100km, the stage was perfectly prepared for a GC shake-up.

On the first ascent of the Col, an elite group of ten climbers, including Kasia, rose above the rest, before a breakaway tried their luck through the twisting valley roads that led back to the foot of the colossal climb. It was from there, with around 50km remaining, that racing truly ignited. The leading group was whittled down to just 14 before a series of stinging attacks splintered it further, establishing a classy quartet that included Kasia.

Inside the final 30km towards the final Col de la Croix, Kasia and her three companions worked cohesively, keeping the nearest chasers at roughly one minute and effectively out of contention.

Reflecting on the final 10km of climbing, where early accelerations quickly left her alone at the front alongside Reusser (MOV), Kasia explained:

“From the bottom, I knew that I just wanted to go as hard as possible. It was a 10km climb, so I knew it was going to be around a 30 minute effort and that is something that now I want to be doing more often. So I was like ‘there’s no reason for me to just wait and see what the others are doing’ – I just went for it. Unfortunately, for some reason with Marlen in the last 3km, we started to play this ‘who’s going to do what now’ and then we stalled, so Cedrine [Kerbaol] came from behind. I think if we didn’t do that, then we would definitely have had more time on her, so that was a bit of a shame.”

In the end, Reusser kicked away to take the stage victory by six seconds. Behind, Kerbaol (EFO) had steadily chipped away at the gap to regain contact, pipping Kasia in the sprint for 2nd. Kerbaol also secured 2nd on GC, while Kasia finished 3rd, 33 secs behind the Frenchwoman and just over two mins adrift of Reusser. Starting the day in 6th overall, Kasia comfortably erased her 29-sec deficit to the podium, and easily distanced any other potential threats.

The stage also marked Kasia’s final race appearance in the iconic Polish national champion’s jersey. Having opted not to defend her title at next week’s national championships, she arrived in Switzerland eager to make one final statement in the white and red colours at a race that has previously brought her considerable success, including another 3rd on GC twelve months ago.

While a victory in the jersey ultimately proved elusive, Sunday’s performance was a fitting farewell.

“I feel like I had a good run in the jersey”, Kasia surmised. “Many podiums and unfortunately no victories, but I feel like I represented it pretty well. I’m definitely happy with the season so far and am looking forward to seeing who’s going to have a national jersey next. Hopefully Agnieszka.”