Dirty Tactics and Historical Beefs: Vollering vs. Niewiadoma Is Cycling's Spiciest Rivalry

Demi Vollering vs. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney.

The greatest stealth rivalry of world cycling was blown onto the world stage last week at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

The controversy that erupted after Saturday’s explosive eighth stage put the heat on a Tour de France antagonism that’s been simmering since 2022.

Two-year-old beefs and pseudo-apologies bubbled out of Niewiadoma’s bomb-blast comments Saturday.

The Polish star torched Vollering’s teammate Célia Gery for a dark-arts maneuver that could have decided the race.

“Kasia Korner” provoked a cascade of speculation, accusation, and unrestrained anger.

Gery was blasted by online death threats, and neither Demi nor Kasia held back from bitter statements that seem rare in a sport of media training and PR product.

Niewiadoma and Vollering claimed Sunday night they’d made peace after they finished 1-2 in the most scintillating race of the season.

But the biggest feud of the cycling season might not be forgotten, either.

A four-year rivalry gains new ferocity

Vollering and Niewiadoma have been bashing bars for years.

They both hit the podium in every edition of the Tour de France Femmes. They’ve been separated by only one position on four out of five editions of the biggest race on the calendar.

And this year, they also shared podiums at Omloop Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold Race, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Aged 29 (Vollering) and 31 (Niewiadoma), they’re the two best-matched competitors in the Women’s WorldTour.

Vollering vs. Niewiadoma, Tour de France Femmes

Vollering took a new advantage over Niewiadoma on Sunday.

The Dutchwoman became the first to win two editions of the Femmes in a final-stage demolition that proved who’s strongest.

Vollering, who finished the race with three stage wins and a 1:16 GC lead, made a point to highlight who’s best in her winner’s interview after stage 9.

“I wanted to make it clear that we didn’t win because of an incident yesterday,” Vollering said, referring back to “Kasia corner.”

“That’s not what I believe,” Vollering said after the stage Sunday. “I wanted to make it clear that we as a team deserve to win a beautiful Tour de France Femmes with humility and with pride.”

Meanwhile, Niewiadoma acknowledged in her final conference Sunday night that Vollering was the stronger. The Dutchwoman spurred her to improve.

Niewiadoma was also was keen to play down any talk of a fued with Vollering.

Both riders spoke of a moment of reconciliation when they shared space in the peloton on Sunday’s stage around Nice.

“We have been competing together for years, and we will be competing for the next years,” Niewiadoma said Sunday night. “Neither of us ever wants to have any sort of a beef between us.”

Niewiadoma even made the gesture – which was handily caught on camera – of visiting FDJ United-Suez manager Lars Boom to smooth things over with Vollering’s entourage.

It was a direct 180 from Niewiadoma’s stance in the press conference Sunday night.

According to IDL, the 31-year-old brushed away a question about FDJ Suez manager Stephen Delcourt thinking Vollering owed him an apology for her viral outburst the day before.

“I hadn’t heard that he thought that, but if that’s what he thinks, then that’s OK,” Niewiadoma said of Delcourt’s demand.

‘It’s not that I make things up’

Sunday’s reconciliation – or not – might not paper over all that happened in the 24 hours before.

The historical tension between these two simmers so hard that they seem to find it impossible to keep a lid on it.

Speaking before the final stage Sunday morning, Vollering and Niewiadoma both tried to turn down the heat on the firestorm that lit up after that incident on Saturday’s stage.

But neither was backing down either.

Niewiadoma was resolute that she was the victim of tactics so “dirty” it incentivized her Canyon-SRAM team to lodge a formal complaint.

“I was in the race, and I know how it feels, and I’ve been racing for years,” Niewiadoma said Sunday morning. “I’ve expressed my opinion.

“I know what’s right and what’s not maybe necessarily right. It’s not that I make things up, and I think I expressed what I had, and nothing has changed since that,” she said.

Shots fired.

‘I don’t forget about what she did’

Meanwhile, Vollering was so incensed by Niewiadoma’s outburst Saturday – something FDJ director Boom told Sporza had stoked online death threats to Gery – that the Dutchwoman dragged up the seemingly unforgotten past.

In 2024, Vollering crashed while wearing the yellow jersey just 6km from the finish of stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes.

The race-leader was largely abandoned by her SD Worx teammates as the race rushed toward its finale.

Niewiadoma was part of the leading group that didn’t wait for the stranded maillot jaune. The Pole went on to finish the day with a significant GC margin that proved decisive in her overall victory.

Two years later, Vollering suggested Niewiadoma, as her GC rival, should have followed cycling’s unwritten code and waited.

“I didn’t forget about what she did when I was on the ground two years ago,” Vollering said Sunday morning. “If she’s speaking about fair play, then I think she is not the one who can really say something about that.”

Shots returned.

Back for more in 2027?

Vollering and Niewiadoma both leave the Tour de France Femmes with no regrets.

Vollering became the first woman to win the yellow jersey twice. Niewiadoma refused to bow down to the queen of the modern peloton and delivered an all-time climbing performance on Mont Ventoux.

Both of their schedules for the remainder of 2026 are unknown.

The Women’s WorldTour calendar is so front-loaded that Vollering and Niewiadoma might not see each other again until 2027.

They both will no doubt be centering their calendar for the new year on the UK grand départ on July 31.

It feels like 51 weeks won’t be long enough for this rivalry to cool down.