{"id":545479,"date":"2026-04-22T23:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545479\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T23:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:15:09","slug":"cest-la-vie-disappointment-for-kasia-niewiadoma-phinney-after-being-stuck-in-the-big-ring-on-mur-de-huy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545479\/","title":{"rendered":"‘C’est la vie’ \u2013 Disappointment for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney after being stuck in the big ring on Mur de Huy"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a promising second place in the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney<\/a> was a favourite to win Wednesday’s Fl\u00e8che Wallonne Femmes<\/a>, a feat she accomplished in 2024.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old was right on the wheel of eventual winner Demi Vollering<\/a> (FDJ United-Suez) going up the Mur de Huy, but this time a mechanical meant that she had to push a big gear, leaving her unable to follow Vollering and having to let Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) past for the remaining podium spots.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m definitely not happy. I was really bummed with the last climb because I got stuck on the big chain ring. I had to just power through the climb and couldn\u2019t shift to the small one for some reason. That was not ideal, and we didn\u2019t come here for fourth, but c\u2019est la vie,\u201d said Niewiadoma-Phinney after the race.<\/p>\n

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But following an Amstel Gold Race where the Polish allrounder had to fend for herself for a long time, she took solace in a stronger team performance<\/a> and looked ahead to Sunday\u2019s Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super happy with how the team rode, it was a massive step up from Amstel. That was nice to see, and I felt good. Hopefully, on Sunday, we show it even more,\u201d concluded Niewiadoma-Phinney.<\/p>\n

Now 36, Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) did not feature among the top favourites for the victory, but as a winner of seven consecutive editions between 2015 and 2012, she could not be discounted either and showed her experience with a fifth-place finish, surging past world champion Magdeleine Valli\u00e8res (EF Education-Oatly) in the final 100 metres.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did better in the past,\u201d smiled Van der Breggen when asked if she was happy with her fifth place, then went on to point out that women\u2019s cycling is in continuous development, with the level of racing increasing every year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe overall level is higher, and positioning is key \u2013 you get pushed aside so often compared to before. Compared to last year, I have taken a step forward. On the Mur, Demi was simply the best today. I couldn\u2019t go any faster and tried to pace it well. Actually, fifth place is a good result,\u201d Van der Breggen said.<\/p>\n

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We’ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Amstel Gold Race, La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne, and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a promising second place in the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was a favourite to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-545479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545479","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=545479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}