Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) was left with mixed feelings at the end of Dwars door Vlaanderen women on Sunday, after attempting to follow the winning move from Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) but ultimately finishing 13th.
The Polish rider and Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) were the two riders who were briefly able to hold onto the Italian's wheel, but were soon dropped. Whilst Niewiadoma was trying to light things up in the small group behind Longo Borghini in the final, their efforts were not quite enough as the Italian won solo up ahead.
"Definitely a bummer to be dropped from Longo's wheel, because sometimes it's just about those extra seconds of suffering, but once we got out of the saddle into the next cobbles it just felt like I couldn't find the rhythm or I just don't have this pure power on the flat," Niewiadoma told Cyclingnews at the finish.
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The Canyon-SRAM rider continued to put in accelerations in the group behind, at one point helping to draw out a smaller, elite selection. The gap to Longo Borghini went down to 17 seconds at one point, but ultimately they couldn't close the gap, which Niewiadoma put down to a lack of cohesion or commitment to a chase.
"Then no one wanted to work, I think because Balsamo was there," she explained. "But SD Worx had two riders, so it was really weird from their side, I don't know what they were doing, to be honest. I think it was just a lack of cooperation."
Despite not getting a top result – after really being in the mix – Niewiadoma saw Dwars door Vlaanderen as a good opportunity to learn ahead of the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, where she'll hope to be a bigger protagonist.
"I'm kind of unsatisfied in some ways, but also, it was a really good race, a good final burning legs event before Flanders," she said. "It was interesting to see who's really strong and how's the field."
Wednesday was Niewiadoma's first race in the Belgian block, having last raced at Milan-San Remo, so it was a physical test ahead of Flanders. Even being close to Longo Borghini and more active than riders like Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) was a positive sign and bodes well for the harder race on Sunday.
"If I could stay with Longo, I would be super happy, at least I know that the shape is pretty good because I think only myself and Van Dijk stayed with Longo, and then we blew up," she said. "But hopefully Flanders is more climby, so it suits me more. As I said before, I feel like I just missed the pure power on the flat."
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