'You can't do the same things and expect a different outcome' – Niewiadoma's new approach to the Classics

Katarzyna Niewiadoma is hoping to shake off her growing reputation as a nearly-woman and land a major Spring Classics title in the coming weeks, ripping up her traditional approach in a bid to breathe new life into her racing.

The Canyon-SRAM rider became the gravel world champion last autumn but since her big breakthrough several years ago, her career has been marked by near-misses. She has racked up a wealth of podium placings in almost every major event – Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, World Championships, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, and four at Strade Bianche – but her last victory on the road came in 2019.

Time has come for a change.

“If we keep on doing the same thing year after year, and expecting a different outcome, what is the definition of that?” pondered Canyon-SRAM director Magnus Bäckstedt in conversation with GCN.

“For as long as I’ve known Kasia, it’s been done in the same way, with the same races, the same build-up, the same everything. So I think within the team we discussed, ‘ok let’s try a different approach and see what we can do'.”

That approach has been one of altitude solitude, of racing traded in for training. Niewiadoma still raced Strade Bianche but she sacrificed Trofeo Binda – which she has won in the past – as well as the early Flemish Classics in Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Instead, she has been based on the well-trodden slopes of Mount Teide in Tenerife for the past three weeks, doing the hard and often boring yards. She has now returned and will line up at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday ahead of the Ardennes Classics in April.

“We wanted to limit her race programme somewhat, and allow her a bit more time to prepare, and come fresher into the second part of the Classics,” said Bäckstedt.

“We’ll see where that takes us, and we’ll see in a couple of weeks whether it was the right or wrong decision.”

Besides gaining perhaps a percentage or two of physical sharpness, you sense that what Niewiadoma really needs is a stroke of luck. Her strength has seldom been in doubt over the past few years, but things just don’t seem to fall her way, and she seems to fall agonisingly short.

Strade Bianche earlier this year was a case in point. She was the strongest on the gravel, she was taking control, and she marked every Demi Vollering attack, only for Lotte Kopecky’s first foray to take her and Elisa Longo Borghini clear.

“It’s just about being patient, and keeping on working with her. We’re on a good path with the team as a whole, we’ve changed the way the team is racing, and sooner or later it will all click into place,” said Bäckstedt.

“We will be in a place where we’re able to make the right choices at the right times. We’re not far away from those moments.”