On this week’s GCN Racing News Show, Dan dives deep into Kasia Niewiadoma’s remarkable victory at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, breaking down how she outsmarted the competition and how SD Worx let the race slip away. We’ll also recap the opening two stages of La Vuelta a España, the latest action from the Tour of Denmark and the Tour de Pologne, as well as the kickoff of the Tour de l’Avenir. Plus, we have updates on the latest transfer news.
00:00 Welcome to the GCN Racing News Show!
00:30 This week in the world of racing
01:04 Niewiadoma vs. Vollering at the TDF Femmes
10:46 The New Collection | GCN Shop 🛒
11:08 La Vuelta a España
13:17 Tour of Denmark
14:26 Tour de Pologne
15:18 Tour de l’Avenir
16:04 Transfer News
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📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images
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44 Comments
What transfer rumours are you most excited or surprised about?
Whatever else you might think of the Tour de France Femmes, the racing was closer and more exciting than most, or even all, of the men’s races this season. Strategic mistakes to one side, it was a massive shot in the arm for proof of the entertainment that the women’s races can provide.
Best and most nail-biting stage of the Tour ever in my opinion. Congratulations to Kasia. The Women's Tour has proven to be more entertaining than the Men's for me. Looking forward to parity of coverage.
Who is sdworks director sportif?
Yo Niewiadoma, I'm really happy for you, and imma let you finish, but…
Give Demi a better team.
With 5km to go the race was already on, it was SD Worx fault for not protecting Vollering after she crashed.
The worst team in a grand tour SDworkx
The difference between great riders is the respect.
I wish there was an explainer for how crazy this was for non-cycling folk. I been trying and failing to explain how incredible this race and this stage is to regular people.
What a stage!! Best one I've seen all year, maybe of the last few years. A beautiful win for Kasia!! The TdFF overdelivered.
I think there could've been more done by race organisers in preventing some of these crashes. Especially that one in stage 5.
You don't win by attacking your rival on a ugly crash… at least the men respect that situation. Demi should be proud of her outstanding performance… To me she won't the tour hands down… Just like a Navy Seal …. wounded and was fighting to the End Hoooya! To her !we will conto battle with her any time…
love the wording in the intro: how niewiadoma won and how SD worx lost – not how vollering lost, how SD worx lost, because that's exactly what happened.
Great video and overview of the TDFF and Vuelta! 👏👏👏 I am really hoping the TDFF moves to a greater number of stage format. These women riders are incredible and limiting them to 8 stages is disappointing (and insulting TBH). The TDFF is also so exciting and has tremendous entertainment value. Limiting that entertainment to 8 days seems to be bad business. Lastly, an 8 stage format means one crash that delays a rider for a relatively short amount of time, such as what happened to Demi, can cost that rider the championship. A small crash should not have such a catastrophic effect on the outcome of a prestigious event like the TDFF. Having said that, I am happy for Kasia and impressed by the grit she showed at the end of the AdH climb to save her Yellow Jersey.
TDFF is supposed to be won by the best overall female cyclist, and it wasn't. IMO it was a bitchy race with a number of emerging young stars showing promise. I was entertained but not fooled. Chapeau to Niewiadoma for the win, but IMO she didn't earn it. I was not impressed by the amateurish, unprofessional behaviour of many riders/teams. I want a lot more from women's cycling.
It’s women’s.. who cares
I was on the edge of my seat! And I knew the result before I sat down to watch!
SD Worx was the best helper for Niewiadoma. Bad help for Demi and bad ataks to get the jersey back. big fumble.
Niewiadoma won, because Demi crashed. 😢
I remember the uproar when Andy Schleck had a mechanical and Alberto Contador left him in the dust. That said, if your own team isn't going to help you, another team isn't going to wait for you. As long as Vollering looked invincible everyone fell in line, but a little crash and the rats left the ship, even though they could have easily helped her minimize the damage.
Top notch analysis
YOU DON'T WAIT FOR A YELLOW JERSEY WITH 6KM TO GO!! It's a different scenario to if the crash had happened with 50km to go. I always felt sorry for KN that she lost out so much, but she showed a lack of class after the stage in not acknowledging her luck given DV's crash. On the Last stage given that Rooijakkers rode the race she could ( intelligently and not really doing any significant pulling) Vollering would have probably been better off NOT sitting up and waiting for PR. I think she did 95% of the work on her own anyway so should have gone all in and I reckon she'd have won as she would probably have gone 30 sec quicker on the descent. It's all moot though as SDW really lost the tour when ALL the team (apart from Vas) didn't drop back when DV crashed ….She would have minimised her losses and been in a great position if she'd only been 30 sec back and highlighted why the Women's racing is so bizarre at times and seems amateurish! You would have thought it was the #1 discussion point in the pre-stage briefing!! Weibers actually caused DV to crash! she was super selfish and unprofessional. I bet SDW are really celebrating Weibers' 8th place sprint on that stage!!!!
This Tour was so much better than the dopefest the men’s races have become. Truly fantastic
I would love this kind of drama happens on the men side. It is just interesting and fun to watch.
Way to sit on the fence for another controversy. 😂
It was heartbreaking seeing Georgi writhing on the ground like that. I'm so thankful she'll be able to recover without surgery. Stage 8 will go down as one of the greatest tour finales I have ever witnessed. Chapeau Kasia on one of the hardest fought wins I've ever watched unfold!
Rooijakkers is a wheel sucker
the fact the Vollering had just sold out her own chances the week before at the Olympics for Weibes is just… something else
10/10 storytelling from that last TDFF stage – well done!
These are two of the riders I admire most and while I am stoked for Kasia I am also sad for how it ended. Sure it is part of racing and Kasia did not attack the yellow jersey when she crashed but still, the question will remain forever – would Kasia have won if SD did not do what they did? Super exciting final stage and kudos to both Demi and Kasia for leaving everything out on that final climb.
Women‘s racing really delivers in the last years. That last stage was on the same level as the Roubaix Alison Jackson won.
O, and by the way Dan, it's 'Puck', like in Icehockey. Not 'Pook'. 😉
Women are less generous to their own peers lol
This is why i don't watch women's sports
Agree SD Worx lost the femmes not Demi V. But Kasia won the race hands down. Etiquite yes if it was 100ks out or whatever . but KBV won the stage ,radio out ?? bit disappointed in L Wiebers who im a fan of.
How good was Lucinda Brand great climbing the best of Trek in the GC
Sdworx betrayed the yellow jersey on stage 5, disgraceful. If I was Demi I reckon I’d be on a new team asap.
As someone quite new to the sport, I don't feel like I know enough to understand why it was an issue with people overtaking, regardless of team. Cn anyone plz tell me how much of a team sport it is supposed to be, and why there's such a precident?
After all that I'm not sure that SD Worx after all. Rename to SD Under Repair?
I suspect that Demi's teammates just simply don't like her, and weren't willing to help her when she crashed. People can be funny like that.
Very informative analysis. Thanks!
I do have to agree, SD Worx tactically have been pretty average. If I remember rightly, last year was similar, with Demi being left to get back into peloton solo. It begs the question why? and is Demi moving on a symptom of something deeper.
You can sense she is incredibly intense and I wonder if there has been internal friction between her and other elements. That being said, leaving your GC contender to fend for themselves is poor leadership from team as a whole.
After all that, fabulous to see Kasia win, many say she is fully deserving. Roouakkers was a revelation & seems to have come out of nowhere. 10 seconds between top 3 bodes very well for future of TDFF, even with time loss from crash, Demi couldn't drop Roouakkers.
Roll on next year, excited already for it, especially to see where other riders can improve. Demi I still think is rider to beat, but as stated, I never heard of Roouakkers until final stage & now has given Demi something serious to think about.
Tour de France : you wait (sit up) for the yellow jersey if the race hasn’t begun yet. I.e., the peloton is 60K out. However, the race was on. They were 6K out and there was already a break away. Even her team didn’t sit up because they were looking at the finish, and not the yellow. It was a nail biting great race and a well earned victory by Kashia. Demi is strong enough to win in the near future.
The biggest loveliest smile in women's cycling won the day and I was so chuffed for her. I watched every minute of the TdFaZ it was brilliant! Much better than the men's cycling that was going on! Apart from the racing it was fantastic to see the huge crowds that turned out to support the ladies. I feel sorry for Demi, I bet she's glad she's leaving that so called "team", I'm sure she'll be able to get some revenge on her ex-team mates next year while smiling with dollar signs in her eyes! It was disgusting what they did to her. Watching the yellow jersey having to drag her arse to the line shorts ripped, injured all alone, no excuses, it shouldn't have happened!