Kasia Niewiadoma's pursuit of the yellow jersey is still being watched by Demi Volering (SD Volks Pro Time) at the halfway point of the Tour de France Femme. That's because Pac Pieterse (Phoenix-Desseuninck) won the three-man sprint to Liège, finishing stage 4 between her and the defending champion's top three overall.

The Polish rider was unaware that Pieterse had won while drying off from the soaking wet stage, warming up, and talking to reporters, including Cycling News, but when she was told that she had outpaced Voerling in the photo finish, she immediately put this multi-specialty star in did not underestimate her.

“Oh, she won. She owes me. Of course, I know she's a really talented rider. Of course, I know she's a really talented rider. I know her from the Classics,” Niewiadoma said.

“I've never seen her race on the long climbs. Of course, I take her into account because she is very talented and strong.”

“Still, I'm focused on beating Demi [Volering].”

Niewiadoma is adamant that she will not settle for the podium she has achieved only twice before in the Tour de France Femme. Instead, he has set his sights on defending champion Vollering and is in full pursuit of yellow. But after the trio proved their strength in the Côte de la Roche-aux-Focons with 13km to go, she knew she had little chance in the final Sprint à Trois.

“I think we were all riding the same way in the last 10 km. I was thinking the same thing during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, as the attack was about to succeed”

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In the April one-day race, Nienyadoma broke away from a large group with 1.2km to go, but was quickly closed in by Elisa Longo Borghini and eventually finished fifth. Today, she went as far into the final as she could and, in a surprise element, jumped out from the tail of the trio and was passed by Pieterse and Vollaring with 200m to go.

“I waited until Demi [Volering] was in front. This time it was a little closer than in Liège, so hopefully next time it will work out better,” said Nieuwadoma.

“All you can do in the last meter is try your best. I just need that moment when the other racers hesitate. In my mind I thought, 'I just have to run the hardest kilometer and see what happens'”

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And despite missing out on the win, Niewiadoma was ahead of all his rivals, jumping from 46th to 3rd overall, 34 seconds behind Voerling, whose time trial on stage 3 was the main reason for the win.

“Honestly, the Tour has just begun. I felt good today and it was good to be in good shape for a hard stage race. If I had lost on the climb to the finish, it would have hurt me more than losing in the sprint. In a way, I feel like I'm used to losing sprints,” he laughed.

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