August 18, 2024, saw one of the most memorable battles in the history of cycling. On the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, defending champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands was fighting for the yellow jersey with Kasia Niewiadoma of Poland on the dizzying slopes of Alpe d’Huez. And the verdict was only decided when the two women made their final pedal strokes to the alpine climb’s summit.
Vollering, when in the yellow jersey, had crashed on the fifth of eight stages, sideswiped by her teammate Lorena Wiebes on a sweeping bend in a 25-rider pileup. Niewiadoma, who avoided the crash as she was riding closer to the front, helped power a small lead group to claim the race lead. Vollering began the final stage 1:15 down and after attacking 55 kilometers from the finish on the Col du Glandon with Dutch rival Pauliena Rooijakkers. she became race leader on the road.
Niewiadoma chased with two others on the long descent and then dug in on the interminable climb of Alpe d’Huez, willing every ounce of energy out of her body. Her yellow jersey was hanging by a thread, but Niewiadoma hung tough to win the Tour by just four seconds over Vollering, with Rooijakkers another six seconds back in third.
Niewiadoma insists she is largely unchanged by the outcome, even as she reflects on what it was like to be at the center of one of the sport’s most dramatic days. Her dogged efforts on Alpe d’Huez were, she says, more about simply trying to reach the finish line and end the suffering. “I was so tired that there was no other option other than having it finished,” she says. “I wasn’t thinking about the race at all. It was just like, ‘Let’s have it over with, I don’t want to ride my bike anymore.’ It was so painful.”
In this exclusive interview, Niewiadoma explains why she won’t dwell on her Tour de France success, how she was never disheartened by numerous near misses in the sport, and why the surreal fiction of Haruki Murakami is something that appeals to her.
I like reading Haruki Murakami. Recently, I read his “Dance Dance Dance,” which was nice, and “Norwegian Wood” and “Men Without Women” as well.
You won the Tour de France Femmes last August. How have things changed since?
It was definitely the biggest win in my career. But cycling is filled with so many big events. So, it is not only for me about the Tour de France, especially now in the spring you can see that each week we have something very important and something very special. So it was a great celebration, and I definitely got a lot of good feedback.
But life moves on and you focus on the next races. I have focused on the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2025 and focus less on what it was in the past. There is always time in the frame for the celebration and the enjoyment of what you achieved in the past, but then you just simply move on. I wouldn’t say it is something I still live with nowadays, because I just focus on the upcoming summer.
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