Kasia Niewiadoma won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Sunday in a thrilling finale that came down to the wire on the final stage on Alpe d’Huez. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider won the general classification by four seconds ahead of Demi Vollering (SDW) and ten seconds ahead of Pauliena Rooijakkers (ADC) who shared the podium.
After eight stages of intense racing from Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Monday to the French Alps, the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was a showcase for the Women’s World Tour. Riveting finals and three different riders leading the Maillot Jaune formed a thrilling and intense week of racing.
In Sunday’s final stage, the pressure was on Niewiadoma to defend the Maillot Jaune that she had claimed on stage five. The Polish racer put in a huge effort to chase down and hold the gap to Vollering and Rooijakkers who led the race before the summit of the Col du Glandon, with a challenging 55km still left in the race. She finally crossed the line to win the yellow jersey by four seconds at the summit of the Alpe d’Huez. The CANYON//SRAM rider also races into the history books with the closest winning margin in Tour de France or Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift history!
The Polish rider pulled on the coveted yellow jersey at the summit and saluted her teammates for the fantastic effort they had put in over the past week to defend her overall lead right up to the end of the last stage atop the infamous mountain.
Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Alice Towers, Neve Bradbury, Chloé Dygert and Soraya Paladin worked incredibly hard for their teammate all week, especially after losing Elise Chabbey, who withdrew from the race after a crash on the first stage.
Kasia Niewiadoma said after the final victory, “It’s so surreal. I don’t think it’s reached me yet. It’s overwhelming. It was an insane battle out there today and an emotional rollercoaster. It was a brutal edition and to win by a few seconds is surreal and is difficult to soak everything in. I didn’t feel good on the Col du Glandon, but after the long descent, eating and drinking, I started to feel better. I had some good luck to have Lucinda Brand (LTK) in our group working for Realini in the valley that I could also benefit from. I felt that I could regroup before the Alpe d’Huez. Things clicked and I got back into my rhythm. The final kilometre was insane and so painful. I don’t know what I was really feeling at the finish line.”
“In racing, you need good legs and to race smartly, but you also need things to go your way. I’ve had so much bad luck and near misses, and my team always brought me back up and kept believing me. I can’t believe we’ve won the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift! A huge thanks to my team, my teammates, our partners and all the fans out there. To take home this yellow jersey and the victory exceeds all expectations!”
After a stunning and memorable week of racing, CANYON//SRAM Racing celebrates this victory and the glorious Maillot Jaune of the 2024 edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as a victory for the entire team.
