Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney 'ready to retire' after 'career-defining moment' during Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Stage 7 win
By Ben Southby
Updated 07/08/2026 at 20:26 GMT+1
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Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney does not believe the feeling of her maiden Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage victory atop Mont Ventoux will be beaten, with the new yellow jersey wearer joking that she might as well retire.
Highlights: Niewiadoma-Phinney reigns on punishing Mont Ventoux to take yellow jersey
Video credit: TNT Sports
The Pole surged to victory on Friday for her first-ever stage victory, despite topping the general classification to secure the Tour de France Femmes title two years ago.
Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) could not hide her delight, describing her day as a "career-defining moment".
Speaking on TNT Sports after the stage, she said: "It's magical, it's beautiful and I was working hard for this one specific moment and worked for so many years to make it happen.
"It feels like I'm ready to retire! Maybe not now, but it was such a career-defining moment for me.
"I got the yellow jersey two years ago but without winning a stage. I always got like second, third, or whatever.
"Victory on Mont Ventoux [eclipses] all the top two, top three, top 10 places I've ever had in my life."
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'What an inspiration' - Niewiadoma-Phinney conquers Mont Ventoux to claim yellow jersey
Video credit: TNT Sports
As she began the iconic climb, Niewiadoma-Phinney said that she noticed a couple of surprise visitors cheering her on, which gave her a much-needed boost.
"It's hard to describe my feelings because I feel like I'm still speechless, but I just feel so much gratitude," she continued.
"This victory goes to so many people that have been with me along this very long road without a proper big win.
"I just feel like I want to say thank you to almost everyone. Honestly, I don't know, I'm just so tired and blown away with what just happened.
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"As we started to climb the Mont Ventoux I looked right and I saw my parents! They came for a surprise visit. I could see my dad crying and I thought I just needed to make them proud.
"This victory goes to my family, my friends, my team, my husband, my coach. They know how much effort I've put in for this victory. They're always by my side and listening to my complaints.
"It's a long speech right now but I'm just blown away."
Until Friday, Niewiadoma-Phinney was the only Tour de France Femmes winner in history not to win a single stage.
Asked how much she wanted to change that, the 31-year-old said that she was spurred on by the "beautiful feeling" that comes with a stage triumph.
"I never really chased the victory for the sake of winning," Niewiadoma-Phinney added. "I chase it for the sake of this beautiful feeling.
"I came here to Mont Ventoux with my friends and my husband and we rode the climb three times, we had fun.
"It was just about this amazing feeling from being around here, it feels like [being] at the top of the mountain.
"From that moment, I just wanted that feeling coming here as well. That pure joy of riding, feeling like a kid."
Reusser regrets 'really stupid' mistake
Marlen Reusser (Movistar) has described her tactical duel with Demi Vollering (FDJ United–Suez) as "really stupid."
The duo allowed Niewiadoma-Phinney to capitalise and take not only the win but also the yellow jersey, snatching it from Reusser.
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Watch: Niewiadoma-Phinney's clinical stage-winning attack from Vollering, Reusser group
Video credit: TNT Sports
"I think the problem was that Demi and me were marking each other too much, really stupid from both of us," she explained.
"Demi kept attacking super hard, I kept telling her, 'Don’t do this, let’s just ride' because we had Kasia well in sight, we could for sure close it this time. But if we do bing-bang, bing-bang, we get ourselves a nice portion of lactic acid again and again in the legs and it's becoming harder and harder to ride for both of us.
"It was not too good from us and very good from Kasia."
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