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Kasia Niewiadoma says the addition of Milan-San Remo to the women’s WorldTour calendar next year will “raise the level even higher” in women’s cycling, though she added that a full complement of Monument races would be a welcome next step.
It was announced last week that a women’s edition of the Italian Monument will take place next year, with the race held on the same day as the male equivalent.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, the Canyon–SRAM rider said: “I feel like it’s going to be another race that will just raise the level even higher. It’s just another thing that motivates you, being able to be the first woman to win Milan-San Remo after a break now of however many years. But it would be nice to have all of the men’s Monuments in our season.”
The five monuments include Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, as yet, there is no female version of the latter in the 2025 calendar.
As things stand no route information has yet been released for the women’s Milan-San Remo, but the race is being labelled as a “return” by its organisers, RCS, after a precursor known as the Primavera Classic was held between 1999 and 2005. The last 118 km of the men’s race, including the famous climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio, were used for that event.
Niewiadoma has enjoyed arguably her best-ever season on the road with a victory at Flèche Wallonne Féminine in the spring and the overall title at the Tour de France Femmes to her name. She explained that after a frustrating 2023, her results over the last twelve months have been a much needed confidence boost ahead of the increase in competition in the women’s peloton next season.
Former two-time road world champion Anna van der Breggen is one of two star names set to return to women’s racing next season. Several up and coming riders are also set to make their WorldTour debuts including British rising star Cat Ferguson.
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“It’s really motivating to see that in just one season, everything can change,” she said. “I’ve gone from pursuing these victories for so long and being kind of there, but on the second or third spot to then having two big victories and them making me feel so much better about myself and my career. It’s nice to have them checked off, let’s say.
“My dream is always to win Strade Bianche so knowing that I won Flèche Wallonne, I’ve shown myself that I just have to focus on Strade Bianche, and I will get it now. I also feel like it makes me want to stay on the top of women’s cycling.
“Finishing the Tour in the yellow jersey and winning a big classic is something that I really want to repeat. I don’t want to fall behind, I don’t want to be like ‘okay, I got it, and now I can relax’, it’s just something that made me want to experience more of it.”
She added: “I think it’s going to be super interesting next year, there’s lots of younger riders becoming stronger, and we also have Anna [van der Breggen] and Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot] coming back to road cycling, so I think next year will be a really tough year for everyone.
“But as we have shown during the Tour de France Femmes, I think that women’s cycling is very interesting and unpredictable. The drama is huge, because our races or stages are shorter, so no one waits for anything. The action is always on from the start.”
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