Niewiadoma holds on to win Tour de France Femmes
Katarzyna Niewiadoma retained her overall lead from the penultimate stage to claim her maiden Tour de France Femmes title
- Published
Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma claimed her first Tour de France Femmes title after holding off last year's winner Demi Vollering, who won a dramatic final stage.
Niewiadoma, 29, finished fourth on the Alpe d'Huez and collapsed into tears as she realised she had done enough to retain her overall lead from the penultimate seventh stage by four seconds.
Pauliena Rooijakkers, of the Netherlands, came second on the stage and Evita Muzic, of France, finished third.
The Netherlands' Vollering, who rides for SD Worx-Protime, began the day eighth overall and trailed Canyon–SRAM's Niewiadoma by one minute and 15 seconds.
"It's so crazy to be honest, the whole stage was such a crazy rollercoaster," said an emotional Niewiadoma.
"I've gone through such a terrible time on this climb, like I hated everything. Then arriving at the finish line and learning that I won Tour de France... is insane. It's so mind-blowing."
Vollering proved her credentials as the pre-stage favourite to storm to victory on the 149.9km ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Alpe d'Huez, having to wait for the chasing pack.
Niewiadoma struggled on the final climb but recovered to finish one minute and one second behind Vollering.
Rooijakkers, meanwhile, finished third overall.
"Two weeks ago, I was so disappointed getting stuck behind a crash during the Olympics," added Niewiadoma.
"I feel like this week, all the stars aligned for my team and for myself."
Final general classification
Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-SRAM) 24hrs 36mins 07secs
Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +04secs
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +10secs
Evita Muzic (Fra/FDJ–Suez) +1min 21secs
Gaia Realini (Ita/TFS) +2mins 19secs
Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/Ceratizit-WNT) +2mins 51secs
Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG-Soudal) +7mins 09secs
Lucinda Brand (Ned/Lidl–Trek) +8mins 06secs
Juliette Labous (Fra/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +8mins 07secs
Thalita de Jong (Ned/Lotto Dstny) +8mins 12secs