Kasia Niewiadoma dominates the Big Sugar Classic

Kasia Niewiadoma dominated the Big Sugar Classic with a long solo ride over the chunky gravel of northwest Arkansas. Lauren De Crescenzo was best of the rest, finishing second, while Anna Hicks was the surprise of the day, taking third.

Niewiadoma, resplendent in her new rainbow jersey as the UCI Gravel World Champion, wasted no time in taking charge of the race. The rider, who is one of the strongest in the world across all disciplines, attacked before the halfway mark, pushing her advantage over the two-minute mark through the 52-mile aid station. While gravel veteran De Crescenzo fought hard to mitigate the damage, in a one-to-one battle it was always going to be a task to match Niewiadoma.

Behind the two out front, Hicks came to the fore with her best result to date. The 23-year-old road has had solid if not spectacular results on the road this year and will race for the Denver Disruptors next season. She beat last year's Big Sugar champ Paige Onweller and Whitney Allison for the final podium place.

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Paige Onweller at the midway point on her way to a fourth place

While Sofia Gomez Villafañe was not in contention, she did enough by finishing to secure her overall win at the Life Time Grand Prix.

US gravel meets top line talent

The 2023 Big Sugar Classic marked a definitive step-up in US gravel racing as a whole, with Niewiadoma taking to the start in Bentonville. Never has an active road racer with such credentials that include a podium at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes – raced a LifeTime Grand Prix event.

Niewiadoma is a new type of rider to the US gravel scene.

“It’s hard to compare," she said of the differences between the two racing types. "I feel like the atmosphere is a little different, but yeah, I could definitely feel that I was climbing a lot today. I didn’t expect that.

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Niewiadoma leading the women's race early in the race

"The course was very relentless cause I feel like there was never a time to rest. Like I felt that after the first half I was just climbing and descending so I definitely had a mental breakdown like ‘I just want to stop pedaling for one second,’ you know.

"But there was always something and anytime we would go downhill it was quite technical so I felt like I was kind of tense and it was still hard to relax. Definitely very brutal.”

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The lead women through the quarry on the Big Sugar course

“I think that they are strong [the other competitors]. They just race differently than how we race. No one was really fighting for position before the important sections and I feel like in Europe it’s one big fight before that.

“To be honest, the last 5km I was like, ‘never again.’ It’s super hard but I always feel like that after winning, and after a big 'sufferfest' it feels so satisfying that you want more.”

Life Time

The rainbows were shining bright today

Results

1. Kasia Niewiadoma – 5:35:14
2. Lauren De Crescenzo – 5:44:01
3. Anna Hicks – 5:45:08
4. Paige Onweller – 5:45:18
5. Whitney Allison – 5:45:23
6. Jenna Rinehart – 5:46:17
7. Alexis Skarda – 5:46:42
8. Sarah Sturm – 5:47:57
9. Haley Smith – 5:47:57
10. Emma Grant – 5:48:04

You can view the full results as the come through at the link here.