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Strade Bianche is a type of races the place Kasia Niewiadoma has needed to transform familiar with the bittersweet feeling of time and again being getting ready to a long-sought after end result however this 12 months the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider needed to undergo an altogether other form of sadness, a race-ending crash.
After her first fall Niewiadoma controlled to get again on and proceed however the second one, which took place with simply over 50 kilometres to head within the 136km match, was once a distinct topic. Niewiadoma got here down on a sweeping descent, coming down at the left of the street close to the barrier. Her teammates rushed to take a look at and detangle her from a motorbike which had landed on most sensible of her and in addition some other however it quickly was transparent her race was once performed.
“You know, as an athlete, when you train for so long and spend a lot of time preparing for certain goals, chasing little details just so you can improve, and then you feel like this is it – like you’re in shape, you have good legs – and then you crash out of the race, it just feels like something has been taken away from you,” mentioned Niewiadoma in a group observation. “Sometimes, it’s hard to digest that over not being able to compete in the final because the legs aren’t there.”
“So yeah, definitely, being in the ambulance and not feeling great, plus knowing that the chance was just taken away from me, felt very upsetting.”
It is just the second one time within the 30 12 months outdated’s 11 participations on the match that Niewiadoma has no longer completed. After coming 6th in her debut in 2015, 2d via from 2016 to 2018 and 3rd in 2019 there was once then the primary DNF in 2020. That got here in a brutally scorching COVID-19 pandemic behind schedule version. Since then, till this 12 months, it’s been all most sensible ten finishes together with two frustratingly shut podium misses with fourth.
“I don’t feel like I’m disappointed anymore, but it’s just more like a heartbreak – coming back here again and getting kicked about in a different way,” mentioned Niewiadoma. “I’m not sure if I’m more upset about the fact that, again, I was not able to show what I actually represent right now.”
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Then again, in a later instagram put up taking a look again at the race which was once gained via Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Niewiadoma was once ready to include one of the vital positives.
“I guess I got a different perspective now! It always could be worse so I’m grateful for what I’ve got, in this case: pretty strong bones.”
