Katarzyna “Kasia” Niewiadoma is known not only for her incredible cycling career on the rise but also for the educational and encouraging content for fellow riders on social media. Matt caught up with Kasia just as she and her team, UCI Women’s WorldTeam Canyon//SRAM, finished the recon ride of stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in the French Alps.
But before she got herself to that point, her journey towards the Tour started probably when she was 16, sitting in front of the TV, admiring Alberto Contador. “I was a big fangirl,” she shared with Matt, “I loved his racing style and how he was just dancing on the pedals. Somehow, he’s my main early memory of the Tour de France.”
As she claims, she didn’t take an interest in the sport until her late teens so this truly might have been her gateway to the race. That and researching Polish riders in the earlier and much shorter women’s Tour iteration Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale.
Now, the palmares of the 29-year-old Polish rider are impressive: 18 professional wins so far, among them two podium finishes at the 2022 and 2023 TdF Femmes, the latter with the Queen of the Mountains jersey, the 2019 Amstel Gold Race or becoming the 2023 UCI Gravel World Champion. Today, the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is once again ahead of her – but she realises that it’s still a new situation for which “the hunger has been building for many years”.
Throughout her career, Kasia saw how much attention the Tour de France was attracting and thought that women cyclists were missing out, “kept out of the party,” as she aptly puts it. Now she feels like her fellow cyclists haven’t stopped celebrating since the first edition. “It’s amazing to be in a place where I have experienced not even having the Tour de France Femmes to finally racing it. We are creating history right now and it’s a great feeling to be part of it.”
When she finally attended the first stage of the first 2022 edition, Kasia noted there was a huge difference in how her team was treated, and the way everything was prepared and organised compared to other races – it felt like “entering a new era”. Her personal most emotional moment was last year’s Col du Tourmalet stage when she gained the Queen of the Mountains polka-dot jersey. It created so much excitement and confidence for her and her team that the following stage day was nearly stress free for Kasia since the moment she woke up. “We got this,” she thought going to sleep the day before, as she shared with Matt.
Kasia also remembers being surprised by the droves of fans on the killer Tourmalet stage, despite rain and intense fog that sometimes let riders and supporting car crews see only a few metres ahead. For the first time, she felt like she experienced the genuine Tour “mountainous fan vibe” with fans cheering just centimetres from her face at times.
When Matt inquired, given her rising-star status and active endorsement of women’s cycling on social media, what kind of legacy would she like to leave behind, especially for young women riders, she remarked that she hopes she can be a good role model: “Every athlete wants to inspire others because we are inspired by other riders. I’m inspired by riders stronger than me, such as Demi Vollering or Lotte Kopecky, because I eventually want to be them and best them.” Kasia is also well aware that on the pro level, people sometimes tend to glorify the grind and constant overstraining of one’s limits, so she would wish to inspire others to excel in the sport “in a healthy way” and one that “doesn’t cause harm to your body”.
As for the final words of advice for beginner riders looking to get where she is now, Kasia shared with Matt: “Go outside and ride a bike without thinking about all the marginal gains the pros are chasing. Give yourself a few years to just fall in love with cycling and be passionate about it. Play around and have a good group of friends.” We couldn’t agree more.
For some more amazing insights, tune into this new special podcast episode. Matt and Kasia discuss this year’s “fantastic” route of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the empty spot she and her fellow cyclists felt before there was a full-blown women’s Tour, the luxury of having the time to celebrate victories on a tight pro-race schedule, Kasia’s super successful spring season and her expectations for the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and more.
