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Kasia Niewiadoma, who has stood on the rostrum of a number of the hardest occasions on the ladies’s street calendar, might have shot straight to the highest step within the gravel world however has been fast to focus on that it has been no simple experience to the entrance of the pack.
“I really feel like listening to about gravel beforehand I used to be like oh, candy we’ll simply experience for lengthy after which calm down and have enjoyable however it’s insanely onerous,” Niewiadoma stated after claiming victory at Massive Sugar Gravel in Bentonville. “I really feel like each single roadie ought to know that as a result of I do know at some factors we had been like ‘oh, gravel is for individuals who don’t need wish to actually race’ however it is likely to be the other.”
Niewiadoma, who has stood on the general podium of each the Giro d’Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes, solely stepped into gravel racing earlier this month, after noting how a lot the World Championships course performed to her strengths. It was a savvy selection, as though it was simply her first race within the self-discipline she claimed the rainbow jersey and her first UCI win since 2019.
The 104 mile (168km) Massive Sugar, as her second race on the unpaved roads of the rising self-discipline, launched her to one more distinct fashion of gravel racing. It took the Canyon-SRAM Girls’s WorldTour rider from the just lately launched UCI incarnation of the self-discipline – the place the World Championships additionally entice a discipline heavy with riders from the street – to the well-established US racing scene, with its grass roots evolution and a discipline robust in self-discipline specialists.
“I believe that they’re robust [the other competitors],” stated Niewiadoma in a media assertion from Massive Sugar. “They simply race otherwise than how we race. Nobody was actually preventing for place earlier than the necessary sections and I really feel like in Europe it’s one massive battle earlier than that.
“I used to be like oh that’s candy I can simply enter one thing first with out preventing for it. I really feel like in Europe now we have so many women so we change into feisty. The women had been very robust on the market for certain.”
Niewiadoma had taken off solo before the halfway mark to make it two for two within the self-discipline, however stated the course was relentless with the technical nature of the up and down route making it “brutal” and “onerous to calm down”.
“To be trustworthy, the final 5 kms I used to be like ‘by no means once more’. It’s tremendous onerous however I really feel like yeah, all the time after profitable and after an enormous sufferfest, it feels so satisfying that you really want extra.”
Not right away, nevertheless, because the low season now calls. Which means Niewiadoma should watch for subsequent yr to see if she will make it three for 3 within the self-discipline.
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