Kasia Niewiadoma finished off an impressive team performance today from CANYON//SRAM Racing when the 23-year-old won UCI Women’s WorldTour race Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Cittiglio, Italy. Niewiadoma crossed the line to salute in rainy conditions, 22 seconds ahead of Chantal Blaak (DLT) and Marianne Vos (WAD). Teammates Alena Amialiusik and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot finished fifth and sixth respectively.

With Niewiadoma’s victory the CANYON//SRAM rider also takes over the lead in the Women’s WorldTour standings after three races.

The peloton faced rain-soaked conditions for the entire 131km race from Taino to Cittiglio. Amialiusik set the race alight with an attack on the third-last finishing circuit. A duo of Amialiusik and Santesteban (ALE) were caught with one lap remaining and a flurry of attacks followed from Niewiadoma, Ferrand-Prévot and incredibly Amialiusik again.

Niewiadoma attacked fiercely on the final Orino climb and when no rider was able to match her, the CANYON//SRAM rider never looked back, maintaining her lead all the way to the line take a solo victory.

“My victory today was due to an amazing team,” said an elated Niewiadoma after the finish. “We had our plan and each of us believed that we were able to achieve our goal!”

Niewiadoma paid tribute to her teammates who set her up in the final.

“It’s been another really hard day on the bike. From the start it was raining and the conditions were tough. The girls did an incredible job attacking and making the race hard for all of our competitors while I could save my energy and prepare myself mentally and physically for the last final attack! I can say on behalf of my team that we stayed in control of the race no matter what other teams were doing.”

Amialiusik took Most Aggressive Rider of the day and was a large part of the victory.

“I was feeling really good. We had a nice team plan and I am happy for my part in it. I attacked the first time with four laps to go but then I could get away with three laps to go. When we were eventually caught, Pauline went first and then me again. I wasn’t thinking how tired I felt, I was just thinking okay we need to do everything possible. When Kasia went on the last climb it was perfect situation for us. Kasia won and then Pauline and I could have a sprint in the finish. It’s a great result for our team and we’re all very happy to have the victory in our pocket tonight.”

Niewiadoma said she was motivated by Vincenzo Nibali’s ride during Milan San Remo. “I was inspired by his attack and I wanted to push hard until the finish line and never look back! It’s amazing that we were able to put our team plan into practice and to win the race, I’m super super happy for this. I just want to go see my teammates now and give them a big hug!” added the Polish rider.

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