The Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto rider went into a brutal stage 8 third on GC and 30 seconds adrift of race leader Kim Le Court.<\/p>\n
But she crossed the finish line atop Col du la Madeleine three-and-a-half minutes behind stage winner and the new yellow jersey Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot.<\/p>\n
Her hopes of the maillot jaune are realistically over, but she is only 22 seconds off third place, currently occupied by Demi Vollering.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel uplifted or stoked because that\u2019s not the result that I worked hard for. But at the same time, looking at the climb and the numbers, I know it was the best effort of my life,\u201d the 30-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the fact that others have improved so much \u2013 it just shows how the women\u2019s peloton is growing. And it makes me think and wonder, what else can you be doing to be winning races when simple improvement isn\u2019t enough anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
Niewiadoma felt confident at the foot of the Madeleine, when the race for yellow was still wide open, especially with Le Court having already crashed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just going all out,\u201d she said. \u201cI was not looking down at my power numbers and trying to push something \u2013 I just went with everything I had.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn such a long climb and on grueling steep parts, you just push as much as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I see chances of getting on the podium\u2019
\n![\"C\u00e9drine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Z8A_1365.jpg\")
C\u00e9drine Kebaol and Kasia Niewiadoma race towards the top of the Madeleine (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
The accumulation of a week of tough racing contributed to Niewiadoma\u2019s performance, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you\u2019re eight stages in,\u201d she added. \u201cYou go out there on your training ride and do your 30 or 40 minute efforts, and because you come from freshness it\u2019s different to when you do a stage race.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to consider uncontrollable factors, like the different travel times, the time you go to bed, the bed you sleep in. There are many variables that actually affect your recovery. You just have to accept things that you can\u2019t control, and in training everything is perfectly organized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of stage 9, the final day of what has been arguably the hardest Femmes route ever, Niewiadoma is promising to go on the attack to finish on the podium for the fourth consecutive year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see chances of still getting on the podium, and that is something that I really want to pursue,\u201d she said. \u201cIt still motivates me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the yellow jersey is out of reach, but there are many teams that are motivated to do something, and we hope to get that podium spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m making more that maybe [second-placed Sarah] Gigante might drop because there are some technical descents, and it\u2019s not that we finish on top of the climb.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer team [AG Insurance-Soudal] is super strong, and they\u2019ve proven so many times that they are around her, shepherding her and bringing her up the front, but I do believe there is still a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Also see:<\/p>\n
Huge courage shown by two riders, one who missed the time cut, another who barely scraped inside it \u2026<\/p>\n
velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-ra\u2026<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 VELO (@velo-velo-velo.bsky.social<\/a>) 2 August 2025 at 22:01<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”> Kasia Niewiadoma\u2019s dreams of winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[23723,4985,23724,101,16779,56,54,55,23725],"class_list":["post-41192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-canyon-sram","tag-cycling","tag-kasia-niewiadoma","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france-femmes","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-womens-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}