Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney put in an all-time best climbing performance when she won on Mont Ventoux at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. She dropped the entire peloton, claimed the stage by more than a minute, and rode herself into the yellow jersey.
Fans were confused, then, when she uploaded her ride to Strava, and didn’t have the fastest recorded women's time – the QOM. That honour instead went to Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’IMAD), who finished third on the day, with a time of 1:07:44 on the official 20.74km ‘Mont Ventoux (par Bédoin)’ segment.
When Cycling Weekly questioned the Italian about the QOM on Saturday, she said she only had it “probably because Kasia didn’t publish yet”. But Niewiadoma-Phinney had published by that point. Why did she not take the crown?
“I think I did,” the Canyon-Sram rider told Cycling Weekly quizzically on Sunday, during her press conference for finishing runner-up overall. “I think so, because I was looking at it also. That’s the one – because there are a few different segments – the one that Longo has right now?
“I was like nearly two minutes faster,” she continued. “[The QOM] is there, but it’s not loading for some reason. I don’t know why.”
The answer, it turned out, lay in Niewiadoma-Phinney’s Strava privacy settings; due to hiding the ends of her rides, her file appeared to finish a few hundred metres short of Ventoux’s summit. This meant her QOM time on the segment was not recorded on the public leaderboards.
Asked if she will now amend the file to secure the QOM, Niewiadoma-Phinney smiled: “Oh yeah.”
A surreal scene then unfolded in the media centre when Longo Borghini, who was waiting for her press conference for finishing third, raised her hand to ask a question.
“Hi Kasia, it’s Elisa Longo Borghini from UAE Team L’IMAD,” she began. “I want to ask you a question: can you not upload your Strava segment? I have the QOM and I’d like to keep it.”
Laughing, Niewiadoma-Phinney said: “It depends how many drinks you buy me for that.” Longo Borghini replied: “It depends how cheap drunk you are… We can make a deal later.”
Seven of the top 10 women's Strava times on Mont Ventoux were set on Friday during stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes.
As it stands, and before Niewiadoma-Phinney has updated her file, Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) is second, Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) fourth, with Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Maeva Squiban (UAE Team L'IMAD) also featuring on the leaderboard.
Reflecting on her entire Tour performance, Niewiadoma-Phinney said she was “happy and satisfied” with her second place, because she was confident she had given her “absolute best”.
“We came here to fight for the best possible result and, I mean, I won on Mont Ventoux, and I feel like that was the biggest day of my life, cycling-wise,” she said. “I’m super proud and happy about it.”
