Everyone was expecting Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx) to duke it out at the front of the field on the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, but Kasia Niewiadoma inserted herself into the middle of the stage 7 Tour de France Femmes battle and took full advantage of the duo's intense rivalry. The end result is that the Canyon-SRAM rider is heading into the final stage second overall.
Niewiadoma entered the queen stage in fifth spot in the battle for yellow and while the departure of the next rider up the results list, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), left her moving up the standings to fourth before a pedal stroke was turned, once the race hit the climbs Niewiadoma immediately made it clear that her sights were set higher. She intended to earn a spot on the podium for a second year running.
"I am super proud, super happy. It was an immense effort and not only for myself but from the whole team," said Niewiadoma who initially launched on the Col d'Aspin ascent with Van Vleuten and Vollering but then distanced them on the descent as the games between the pair began.
"Once I had a quick glance behind me and I saw that they were looking at each other, and also on the climb on the Col d’Aspin Demi didn’t want to work with us, so I knew that she would not work with Annemiek," said Niewiadoma.
The two outright favourites for yellow were absorbed back into a small group as a result and while Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) pulled back a chunk of Niewiadoma's buffer for her teammate the rider still started the Cold du Tourmalet ahead. She held at the front of the field right until Vollering pulled past in the final five kilometres. Niewiadoma then took second on the line and in the GC, finishing 36 seconds ahead of Van Vleuten and adding another two seconds to her overall advantage on the Movistar rider because of time bonuses.
Niewiadoma may be well on the road to making it onto those final podium steps again, but first she has to get through the final time trial. It is a discipline she has been working on in training after it became clear to the 28-year-old that she wasn't where she had hoped to be. She came tenth, more than two minutes behind the stage winner, in June's stage 2 individual time trial at the Tour de Suisse.
"Definitely that race made me realise that I had some homework to do," said Niewiadoma. "So together with my coach we spent, quite a lot of days actually, on a TT bike to the extent that I feel comfortable on it."
The rider from Poland has Van Vleuten, a two-time world champion in the race against the clock, just 36 seconds behind her on the overall rankings heading into the final stage but Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep) and a determined Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich) are also within a minute.
At the Tour de Suisse, when Niewiadoma last lined up against the French dsm-firmenich rider, Labous finished a couple of spots and four seconds ahead of the rider from Poland. Moolman-Pasio doesn't have any individual time trial results as a basis for comparison this season but the last time the AG Insurance rider lined up against Niewiadoma in 2021 at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta they were reasonably closely matched in the short time trial, with the Canyon-SRAM rider just six seconds faster over the 7.3km distance.
The gaps, however, get much wider when looking at nearest rival, Van Vleuten. The two haven't gone head to head in a time trial recently but back in 2021 at La Vuelta, Van Vleuten carved out an intimidating advantage of 1:20 in just a little over seven kilometres.
Nevertheless, on the final 22.6 km time trial finale in Pau, there is plenty at stake to drive Niewiadoma on and she is not prepared to give up any spots without a fight.
"We will see tomorrow. I mean, I have good legs. I hope that I'm not going to lose them overnight," said Niewiadoma after stage 7. "I came here to fight for a podium, so I will not let go of that."
