Kasia Niewiadoma, who has stood at the podium of probably the most hardest occasions at the girls’s highway calendar, will have shot directly to the highest step within the gravel global however has been fast to focus on that it’s been no simple trip to the entrance of the pack.
“I think like listening to about gravel previously I used to be like oh, candy we’ll simply trip for lengthy after which chill out and feature amusing but it surely’s insanely arduous,” Niewiadoma mentioned after claiming victory at Large Sugar Gravel in Bentonville. “I think like each and every unmarried roadie will have to know that as a result of I do know at some issues we had been like ‘oh, gravel is for individuals who don’t need need to in reality race’ but it surely could be the other.”
Niewiadoma, who has stood at the total podium of each the Giro d’Italia Donne and Excursion de France Femmes, handiest stepped into gravel racing previous this month, after noting how a lot the Global Championships path performed to her strengths. It was once a savvy selection, as even supposing it was once simply her first race within the self-discipline she claimed the rainbow jersey and her first UCI win since 2019.
The 104 mile (168km) Large Sugar, as her 2d race at the unpaved roads of the rising self-discipline, presented her to but any other distinct taste of gravel racing. It took the Canyon-SRAM Girls’s WorldTour rider from the not too long ago presented UCI incarnation of the self-discipline – the place the Global Championships additionally draw in a box heavy with riders from the street – to the well-established US racing scene, with its grass roots evolution and a box robust in self-discipline experts.
“I believe that they’re robust [the other competitors],” mentioned Niewiadoma in a media commentary from Large Sugar. “They only race in a different way than how we race. No person was once in reality preventing for place earlier than the essential sections and I think like in Europe it’s one giant combat earlier than that.
“I used to be like oh that’s candy I will simply input one thing first with out preventing for it. I think like in Europe we’ve such a lot of women so we transform feisty. The women had been very robust in the market evidently.”
Niewiadoma had taken off solo earlier than the midway mark to make it two for 2 within the self-discipline, however mentioned the path was once relentless with the technical nature of the up and down course making it “brutal” and “arduous to chill out”.
“To be truthful, the final 5 kms I used to be like ‘by no means once more’. It’s tremendous arduous however I think like yeah, at all times after successful and after a large sufferfest, it feels so fulfilling that you wish to have extra.”
No longer right away, then again, because the low season now calls. That suggests Niewiadoma should watch for subsequent 12 months to peer if she will be able to make it 3 for 3 within the self-discipline.