![\"Lidl](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JN7G59_AFP__20250802__68LX8D3__v5__HighRes__CyclingFraTdf2025WomenStage8_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nLidl – Trek’s New Zealand rider Niamh Fisher Black celebrates on the podium during the 2025 Women’s Tour de France.
\nPhoto: JULIEN DE ROSA \/ AFP\n<\/p>\n
Fresh off a fifth-place finish at the Giro d’Italia Women, Nelson cyclist Niamh Fisher-Black admits she is still learning to navigate the pressures that come with leading a professional cycling team.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old is into her second season as a designated leader with the German-based pro team Lidl-Trek, a role that has brought both opportunity and expectation.<\/p>\n
After spending the first five years of her professional career working as a domestique – sacrificing her own chances to support teammates – Fisher-Black is now expected to contend for podiums and wins in some of the sport’s biggest road races.<\/p>\n
Her first major event of 2026, the Giro d’Italia, offered some encouraging signs. Fisher-Black finished fifth overall, while her team collected four stage wins.<\/p>\n
However, Fisher-Black said stepping into a leadership role has presented new challenges.<\/p>\n
“I feel more pressure going into the races, and it’s actually not been going the way that I would have hoped this year,” she told RNZ.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a rocky start to the year with some setbacks and stuff, but I think with every race I’m definitely learning more about myself.”<\/p>\n
Fisher-Black’s rise through the professional ranks has been steady since she made the move to Europe in 2019. She first made her mark with the SD Worx team, earning the best young rider honours and later claiming the World under-23 road title in 2022.<\/p>\n
She continued her progression with a stage win at the Tour de Suisse in 2023 and another on the Giro d’Italia in 2024 before making the move to Lidl-Trek with the goal of becoming a team leader.<\/p>\n
While that opportunity was a major reason behind the move, she said that the responsibility that comes with it remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n
“You have to step up to be a leader and I think it’s often stepping a little bit out of my comfort zone.”<\/p>\n
“That’s a difficult place to be, because if it’s not going well, you can be pretty hard on yourself as a leader, it’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve been enjoying it so far, and I’m quite optimistic about the rest of the year.”<\/p>\n
![\"Niamh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4K0EV7K_AW7_8991_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nNiamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand) receiving the Silver Medal, 2025 World Road Cycling Champs, Rwanda.
\nPhoto: Alex Whitehead\/SWpix.com \/ PHOTOSPORT\n<\/p>\n
What made the start of 2026 more challenging was that Fisher-Black felt she wasn’t quite at her best physically.<\/p>\n
“I can definitely say that I was just not quite strong enough. I think in sports performance, there’s so many different pieces of the puzzle, and it’s about putting them all together at once.”<\/p>\n
Despite those frustrations, she said the Giro marked an important step forward and provided confidence that her form is heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n
“We race as a team together, and you have to make sure that your team-mates feel that it’s worth all the hard work. It’s something I’m enjoying and it’s a new challenge, to be honest.”<\/p>\n
Her ambitions extend beyond helping the team succeed.<\/p>\n
“I think high-performance athletes are strange in the sense that you always want more, and I’m still really hungry to make another step, hopefully get some wins and also explore a little bit more what I can do in general classification riding.”<\/p>\n
One of Fisher-Black’s major targets this season are the world road championships in Canada, where she is hoping to go one better than her silver medal last year.<\/p>\n
But before then she has the Tour de France which this year starts in Switzerland and finishes in Nice.<\/p>\n