In the last stage with the mountain finish on the Alpe d’Huez, Niewiadoma came in fourth, just over a minute behind the day’s winner Demi Vollering. The Dutchwoman, who won the Tour de France last year, tried everything on the final stage to make up for her deficit of 1:15 minutes on the Pole, who had been wearing the yellow jersey since Thursday. Vollering had incurred this deficit in the 5th stage when she fell in the final phase.
On Sunday, Vollering broke away from the leading group at the Col du Glandon 53 kilometers from the finish, putting pressure on Niewiadoma, who was in the chasing group without any teammates. Around twenty kilometers later, Vollering and her compatriot Pauliena Rooijakkers were almost one and a half minutes ahead of the leader, which would have meant Vollering would have won the Tour.
Afterwards, however, the Pole, who finished third in the Tour de France Femmes last year, was able to reduce the gap somewhat, thanks to the support of other riders. Niewiadoma fought courageously on the tough, 13.8-kilometer-long climb to Alpe d’Huez, which had an average gradient of 8.1 percent, and was rewarded with a mini lead of four seconds and her first overall Tour victory.
“It’s a great feeling. I had a very bad moment at the Col du Glandon, but I managed to pull myself together again,” said Niewiadoma.
Noemi Rüegg finished the last stage in 50th place. The Olympic seventh-place finisher finished the week-long tour in 42nd place, 49:58 minutes behind.
