Tour de France Femmes Runner-up Niewiadoma Leaves Without Regrets

It’s been a tense, bitter 24 hours but at the end of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Kasia Niewiadoma embraced Demi Vollering, the vanquished congratulating the victor.

Until Saturday afternoon Niewiadoma was the one wearing yellow but, with one vicious acceleration on the day’s final climb, Vollering snapped the elastic and soloed to victory in Nice.

One day later, she did precisely the same thing again.

The last attack of the 2026 edition finally settled things. So too did the margin of victory. In reaching the finish line over a minute clear of a chasing group which had mopped up Niewiadoma, Vollering had proven something beyond question. She was the deserved winner of the race.

That is a disappointment to Niewiadoma, who had set her season goal around repeating her overall win of two years ago.

But, to her credit, she accepted the result with grace, seeing the upside to what she had done and realizing that hers too was a storming campaign.

“I am happy and satisfied just because I know that I gave my absolute best,” she said in the post-race press conference, speaking without any hint of regret.

“We came here to fight for the best possible result. I won on Mont Ventoux and I feel that was the biggest day of my life. I am super proud and happy about it.

“Demi is of course extremely strong and it is not that I lost to a rookie. She also makes me work harder and to dream to come back here and get the yellow jersey again.

“So in general I would say I am happy because also because of the way the team rode and Antonia [Niedermaier] getting the white jersey. I think it was quite a successful week for us.

‘Demi just motivates me to get stronger’

Niewiadoma and Vollering give two very different kinds of interviews. The former seems lighter, more accepting of outcomes. She comes across as wanting to win, not necessarily needing it.

Vollering, though, is much more highly strung in her post-race interviews. She often seems on the verge of tears and it’s easy to imagine her being deeply upset had she been in the position Niewiadoma was after the final stage, namely finishing second overall.

That absolute necessity to win does spur her on.

While Niewiadoma is also an ambitious athlete, she appears to have a broader outlook on life. That explains her being in a surprisingly sanguine mood despite being unsuccessful in her bid on Sunday. She sees the bigger picture and, instead of getting bogged down in what might have been, she accepts the result while also wanting to push for more.

“Honestly, having a competitor like Demi just motivates me to get stronger,” she said. “I know the Tour is finished but I feel like I just want already message my coach and be like, ‘this and this and this we need to change, or work on.”

The duo have remarkable record. The first edition of the race was in 2022 and ever since that time they have both finished on the podium each year.

“I think each year has been special in its own way,” Niewiadoma said, when asked to compare her feelings about each edition.

“I think that this year definitely felt nicer…I think I felt stronger than in another other edition. I felt I was part of making the race maybe more interesting.

“Definitely also the way I approached the race with my coach, and what we were preparing for paid off. It just gives me confidence for the future.

“I feel there are a lot of women right now kind of at a similar level, and then it is all about those little gains you can make or maybe mental strength and mental approach that gets you into yellow.”

‘None of us wants any sort of a beef between us’

Almost inevitably, a big topic of conversation about Niewiadoma all day was her claim at the end of Saturday’s stage that Vollering’s teammate Celia Géry had deliberately impeded her just when Vollering was launching an all-out attack.

Niewiadoma blurted out the accusation soon after Saturday’s finish and for a rider who is known for her upbeat interviews and level headedness, this was unexpected.

She was clearly hurt, both at what she felt happened and also losing the yellow jersey.

One day later, she was asked about what she and Vollering spoke about at the beginning of the stage.

“Just girls things,” she replied, not wishing to elaborate.

One reporter pushed her further on it. Did they speak about what happened on Saturday?

“Yeah, we did,” she confirmed. “But I think that sometimes it is nice as riders to talk through things and maybe leave the media out of it. Because at the end of the day there is so much going on when you are full gas.

“It is like we have been competing together for years and we will be competing for the next years. So none of us ever wants to have any sort of a beef between us.”

That was apparent at the end of the race when she gave Vollering that embrace. Niewiadoma wanted to move on and, it seems from an exchange with FDJ United – Suez directeur sportif Lars Boom, she accepted that things could have been handled differently.

“Congrats,” she said in the Wielerflits video, with she and Boom clasping each other’s hands. “Hey, I talked with Demi. So sorry it turned out to be like this,” she said.

“You know I am not like this, and you know we also are not like this,” Boom replied. “It’s just a race situation.”

The mood was conciliatory, the tension gone. The Tour is over for one more year and while Niewiadoma dearly wants to win, she will have to wait another 12 months to do so.

She’s already thinking about that target but now will turn to other goals. Her post-Tour programme is yet to be announced but, given her climbing prowess, the world road championships in Canada could be an option.

Niewiadoma didn’t get the final maillot jaune she wanted, but there is another jersey which would be an equally big achievement.