Niewiadoma got "weird vibe" from Vollering and is critical of the Dutch rider: "It's a kind of karma"

Three months later, Niewiadoma can call herself the proud winner of the women’s Tour. That victory wasn't exactly easy to bag, although she did have some luck after Vollering’s crash halfway through the race. The Dutch rider lost so much time that she had to make up for it in the mountains. She managed to do so in a heroic stage, but it was not enough to clinch the overall victory. Niewiadoma maintained just enough of a lead: four seconds.

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After finishing, the women who would end up on the final podium gathered for the ceremony, so the Polish rider soon encountered Vollering. The latter, understandably, was still in a state of disappointment, so Niewiadoma told Cyclingnews. "I like barged in there... super happy, ready to celebrate. And there was a funeral vibe in there. "I looked at the faces and I see Demi, no one is talking. And I'm like, 'Good job, girls. Congratulations on a hard stage'. And then, no response. I was like, 'OK, I'm leaving'. So, yeah, I got changed outside."

Niewiadoma said she tried to create a sportsmanlike atmosphere, but Vollering and her team were not up for it. The Polish rider stated that she felt as if she had not won the jersey fairly. "I could also feel this bitterness from Demi, from SD Worx, or Demi's fans. It felt weird in some ways because none of us crashed her. Crashes happen – nobody's angry at Remco (Evenepoel, ed.) for being third during the Tour de France because Roglic crashed."

The 30-year-old Tour winner even goes a step further. "I think it's about how people handle it - I also think that it's all in some ways about life and how karma comes back to you. Annemiek crashed on the last stage of the first Tour de France edition and SD Worx was the team to ride full gas to drop her. No one remembers that because Annemiek actually chased us back and then she attacked us. I also do respect Demi, yet, I definitely got a weird vibe from her," said the Polish rider.