Kasia Niewiadoma recovered from a late puncture to finish among the peloton at the end of the opening stage of this year's UAE Tour Women on Thursday. However, she was disappointed that her Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto team were unable to achieve a better result in the sprint finish.
The Polish champion is without doubt one of the sport's preeminent climbers and started the four-day race among the favourites to take the GC after Sunday's climbing stage to Jebel Hafeet. However, to be able to fight for overall victory, she cannot cede time to her rivals in a race known for its chaos and crosswinds.
Last year's GC was all but decided on the opening day when the peloton was ripped to pieces by the wind in the opening kilometres of the first stage, and the weather threatened that again this time. However, despite the best efforts of some teams, the bunch stayed together, and with most of the riders competing in their first race of the year, legs were fresh, and there was a fight for every inch of tarmac.
Having survived that chaos, Niewadoma's race was threatened by a puncture just outside the final 10km of the 111km stage between Al Mirfa and Madinat Zayed.
While she was able to regain her position in the bunch, her team were unable to gel around their sprinter, Chiara Consonni, for the final. In previous editions, Consonni has bagged four stage podiums, but on Thursday, she finished outside the top 20, well behind winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime).
"Chiara is super strong and powerful, so I just feel disappointed that as a team, we didn't really deliver her to the sprinting position," Niewiadoma said after a short debrief with her teammates just beyond the finish line.
"As you can see, there are so many organised teams, and you just need to have a full pack to allow the sprinter to go for the victory. We want to learn for each stage and get the victory; we're not here to witness the race, we're here to fight for victory."
Physically, Niewiadoma feels in a good place ahead of Sunday's mountain test and a season stacked with targets.
"It was a nice opener for sure. It was quite hectic, because, of course, everyone comes here with fresh legs. It's a flat stage possibility for the echelons, so I felt that it was just very chaotic. And there was not enough wind to really make a huge damage. So it felt like being in a washing machine for the most part.
"Always the first race is always kind of a nerve-wracking just because you spend so many days, weeks, months, training with yourself or with a group of friends, and you think you're strong and you improve, but you don't know how you are against others. So it's always like the moment of truth is ‘was my winter indeed good, or if there's still something to improve?’"
