"I want to be at the front and not just holding onto the nearest wheel for dear life" - Katarzyna Niewiadoma aims high at Omloop
Cycling
2024 Tour de France Femmes winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma will continue her season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad WE this weekend. As we know the Polish rider, she won't just sit back on the cobbled sectors and will surely try get stuck in the thick of battle.
"I love Classic racing. The quicker I can start them, the better I can get for my target races. Nieuwsblad is very hard, especially in the last two hours. It is just all out on every sector and climbs, and you only have the descents to recover. This kind of racing forces you to switch into the fighting mindset needed for the whole spring," she said in a race preview on CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto team website.
Last year, Niewiadoma placed 7th after she couldn't quite keep up with the pace on the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen. Later that year, she would go on to win La Fleche Wallonne and Tour de France Femmes, so this defeat during the Opening Weekend is certainly the least of her worries.
Yet the always very competitive lady will once again shoot for victory in Ninove this year. "I always want to do my best and with that, there are some ambitions associated. From past editions, you can see that the winner is decided on the Muur, so I want to get over it in the front – powering through and not just holding onto the nearest wheel for dear life," she said.
Even though her season start at Volta a Comunitat Valenciana was for from ideal with just 18th place overall. "It was an adjustment to go from winter training into full gas efforts at the start of stage one in Valenciana, but I was getting better with each day. Having two weeks between the last stage and Nieuwsblad has allowed me to fine-tune all the little details that needed more attention."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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