With a silver medal at the 2015 European Games and the overall win at Euskal Emakumeen Bira under her belt, Katarzyna Niewiadoma is targeting a stage win at the upcoming Giro Rosa. The Rabo-Liv rider has concluded her preparations at the Polish national championships and is setting her mind on the only Grand Tour on the UCI’s Elite Women calendar.
Niewiadoma, 20, will line up alongside world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Anna van der Breggen in Italy and will support their bid to win another overall title for the Dutch team. Marianne Vos won the Giro Rosa for the team last year but is out with injury for 2015.
Niewiadoma only recently got a chance to shine in top races, securing some of her career best results last month. Vos still recovering from injury and Ferrand-Prevot also sidelined by health problems, the Polish climber took the driving seat of the Rabo-Liv team in Spain last month, winning Euskal Emakumeen Bira (2.1) and confirming herself as one of peloton’s best climbers.
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“Winning a race like Bira was a completely new experience,” Niewiadoma said during a rest day at the national championships. “It gave me a huge boost of confidence. It was great to ride and realize that the whole team is working for you. Girls and staff supported me all the time and that really motivated me to fight for the jersey.”
Niewiadoma sealed the overall win after four days of battling for every inch on short and steep ascents of the Basque Country. With no time bonuses on the finish line, she managed to hold on to the yellow jersey in the final classification, closely edging Asleigh Moolman Pasio (Bigla) and Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS).
The tiny Polish climber didn’t have time to celebrate as she left Bilbao and flew directly to Baku to lead the white-red Polish squad at the European Championships. Just days after winning Basque txapela, she rode to a silver medal in the elite women’s road race, sprinting to the line behind Belarus’ Alena Amialiusik.
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