'I thought I had it' - Niewiadoma denied by Vollering in tense Tour Femmes finale

Niewiadoma was part of the three-rider winning move that formed on the steepest section of Mont Brouilly thanks to the forcing of Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez). The Pole was Vollering’s equal on the climb and she put in a dig of her own near the summit, where they were joined by yellow jersey Marlen Reusser (Movistar).

That trio found common cause in the final 10km as they combined to stretch their buffer over GC rivals including Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma), who lost 2:34 after struggling on the climbs.

Niewiadoma was the slowest of the front three by reputation, but she has always been fleet of thought. Realising that Vollering and Reusser were eyeing one another, she took a flyer down the left-hand gutter with a little over 300m to go, opening what initially looked like a winning gap.

It wasn’t to be, as Vollering hunted her down to claim stage victory, while Niewiadoma would have to settle for third place behind Reusser.

“I knew my chances to win with Demi were very small,” Niewiadoma told Eurosport afterwards. “I was like, ‘Maybe they will just look at each other,’ because I could see some tension between them. Well, not tension, but they were playing around. 

“I thought I could use that to my advantage. Honestly, I thought I had it. I thought I just needed to push until the finish line and not look up. And then I saw the wheel on the right and I thought, ‘Ah, next time…’”

Niewiadoma’s day was still a successful one. After a strong showing in Tuesday’s time trial, she now moves up to third overall thanks to her efforts on stage 5. She lies 1:17 down on Reusser and 1:05 behind Vollering, but she is now over a minute clear of everyone else and almost four ahead of the defending champion Ferrand-Prévot.

“This race is very important for my team and for myself, so I always want to make sure that I do absolutely everything to arrive to the race feeling in the top shape,” Niewiadoma said. “With my coach Louis [Delahaije] we worked on so many aspects. Now I can put all the puzzle together and I’m very pleased.”

There is more climbing ahead of the Tour Femmes peloton on stage 6, with a rugged leg to Tournon-sur-Rhône, while the race takes in a pivotal summit finish at Mont Ventoux on Friday.