30.07.2025 World-Tour, News, Race news

KASIA TAKES FOURTH ON FIRST KEY GC STAGE OF TOUR

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney passed the first real general classification test at this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with flying Polish colours, finishing a strong fourth on stage five from an elite selection of seven.

CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Head of Sport, Adam Szabó, said the race outcome aligned with his expectations.

“Yes it does, because we polished down the GC leaders of each team, and it’s getting clear who the biggest threats are for us. I think that it will still need some polishing, but it’s becoming more defined.”

Stage five was the longest of the 2025 race edition at 165km. While the total elevation gain was modest for the distance, around 2000m, the first 100km featured a gently rising profile that led to three categorised climbs in the final 30km. This terrain was enough to spark serious GC moves, especially with bonus seconds available midway up the last climb.

Adam outlined the team’s game plan and how it eventuated:

“We were mainly focused on the last two climbs. The plan was to set a hard pace on the second-to-last climb – that was predominantly the job of Neve [Bradbury] and Rica [Bauernfeind]. We managed that, but actually, there was already action on the first climb – Movistar was chasing all day, then FDJ and Fenix also brought some action. We could contribute a little on that second-to-last climb with our riders. Then, the idea was to go all in with Chloé [Dygert] and Kasia on the final climb, trying to take bonus seconds with Kasia.

We’d then see who was still there and potentially reduce the group even more – especially putting pressure on some of the GC leaders on the small but tricky descent into the finish. After that, we’d just go for the sprint. That was the plan.”

The team showed impressive cohesion in the decisive moments outlined above. Ricarda Bauernfeind was sprightly, responding to attacks across the rolling terrain before the final climb, while Soraya Paladin and Chloé Dygert pushed the pace into the ultimate 2.8km ascent (average 5.4%). When Chloé finished her turn at the front on the lower slopes of the climb, fewer than 15 riders remained in the bunch. Kasia then claimed two of the bonus seconds a little further up. Anna van der Breggen (SDW) launched an attack over the crest with 6km to the line, heading into the descent, before Kasia took over and had viewers gripping their seats as she bombed down at blistering speeds, attempting to open a gap. Ultimately, the seven riders left at the summit regrouped for a flat final 3km and an awaiting bunch sprint.

Kasia reflected on the day:

“The stage was quite fast from the start because it took around 60km for a breakaway to form, so it was just filled with attacks non-stop. And then, the final actually went by really quick. The climbs were still very fast, and 4–5% is nothing crazy steep. So, you can see that still quite a big group can come over the climbs.

And then in the final, we wanted to start a hard pace from which I was then supposed to attack, and I think that maybe we started too early, because then I felt like we were short of one rider until that bonus second from where I then had to go. It was actually fine though because for those bonus seconds, I felt like we went all out. Then it was a bit more like, ‘let’s just get over the climb’, because when Demi attacked, it didn’t really feel like an attack. I feel like we all were already tapped out.”

In the final descent, I hoped that it would be a little bit more hectic or technical to try and create a gap. I saw that any time it would open up, Anna [van der Breggen] was just pulling me back, so then it came down to our final sprint. As we know, I’m not the fastest, but I still tried to position myself for at least some bonus seconds.”

Adam concluded on Kasia’s performance:

“Now when it’s finished, it’s like always – you want more. It would be nice to have the podium with some extra bonus seconds. She scored two bonus seconds on this bonus sprint, and the bonus seconds for third place would be definitely good too. So yeah, it’s a little bit bittersweet.

But at the end, fourth place – I think we can still be happy. Especially as there were a lot of crashes early on in the race, a lot of big crashes. There were quite a few riders involved, and we were lucky with this – we were always in a better place when the crashes happened.

So, I don’t think we should be disappointed. Actually, we can be quite positive with the outcome of the whole stage. Now every single day, bigger and bigger mountains are coming, so we’re looking forward to that.”

Kasia now sits fourth on the general classification, +24 secs behind stage winner and yellow jersey wearer Le Court Pienaar (AGS). Just six seconds separate her from Ferrand-Prévot (TVL) in second, and one second from Vollering (FDJ) in third. The gap from first to tenth is still only +1:16 mins but as Adam alludes to, the terrain only gets tougher from here. Stage 6 is 40km shorter than stage 5, yet packs in 400m more elevation gain on a relentlessly undulating, technical route from Clermont-Ferrand. The GC fire should be burning even brighter by the end.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Live coverage is available via Eurosport, Discovery Plus, TNT Sports, FloBikes, SBS Sport, France 3, and many other regional broadcasters. Stay updated on X with #TDFF2025 and #WatchTheFemmes, and follow CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto on social media for the latest team updates.

Overview