Niewiadoma sprints to last-gasp victory at Fleche Wallonne Femmes

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) clinched victory in the Fleche Wallonne Femmes in a sprint finish in Belgium.

The Pole had broken clear with frontrunner Demi Vollering of SD Worx-Protime and Elisa Longo Borghini, the Lidl-Trek rider, and was on Vollering’s back wheel going into the final 200 metres of the race.

She kicked right at the last as Borghini threatened, but Niewiadoma seized first right on the line.

The breakaway trio had been hauled in by the peloton as the final 10 kilometres neared, with Riejanne Markus of Visma-Lease a Bike the first to make it onto the Mur de Huy ascent.

Vollering, the reigning champion on this course, led the pack once more at the bottom of the Mur de Huy, trailed closely by Niewiadoma and Borghini, while Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), and Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) followed in hot pursuit.

However, the pace was too much for the latter trio, who tailed off as the three speedsters raced off to set up a dramatic sprint finale, which Niewiadoma took, seizing the initiative with 250 metres to go.

“It means a lot,” Niewiadoma said afterwards.

“I really hope that with that victory I inspired a lot of people who are pursuing their dreams for so long because I have experienced a lot of failures, a lot of second and third places and I never stopped believing [or] stopped dreaming that as a team we can win another race.

“The race was super brutal because as we started, it started to rain so hard and the temperature dropped very low, but I knew that this was my day.

“Somehow I just felt it and the weather conditions were kind of on my side because I always benefit from hard races like this.

“After Sunday [Amstel Gold Race] I was not going to celebrate even a centimetre before the line, so I didn’t want to waste any energy looking around, I just gave my best because I knew that’s all I want to do, just sprint for the victory.”