Changing teams always presents a certain amount of risk for professional cyclists. Like with any job it can take time to settle into a new workplace. So when Niamh Fisher-Black transferred from Team SD Worx-Protime to Lidl-Trek for the 2025 season, there was no guarantee that she would continue on her steady upward trajectory.

“They have very different styles, but I couldn't say something negative about my previous team. We all know SD Worx was a powerhouse team. They were the best in the world, and they had a disproportionate number of stars in the team. It was an incredibly cool environment for me to be in because I was surrounded by so much success. But I think at one point I realised that I wanted to find something extra or more for myself, maybe I needed to just change the environment completely,” said Fisher-Black when she sat down with Rouleur to discuss her quietly brilliant 2025 season.

In August, three top 10 finishes in the final three stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift propelled Fisher-Black to a fifth-place finish overall — the highest Kiwi finish in the history of the men’s and women’s Tours. It was a result that would have been unlikely to happen if she remained in the SD-Worx fold. She hadn’t been the biggest name exiting the team at the end of 2024, with Demi Vollering’s transfer to FDJ-Suez taking much of the limelight, but going into 2025, the squad still boasted the likes of Lorena Wiebes, Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen.

Image: Tornanti

“I was really happy where I was, but I was maybe afraid to fall into a box as a rider. I knew I was still young and I still had a lot to find out about myself as a rider and if I was capable of being a winner, I guess.  I thought maybe the best way to do that was to start fresh. I saw Lidl-Trek had a really nice environment and structure and involvement of a huge team involved with the men as well,” explained Fisher-Black.

The New Zealander didn’t suffer from the aforementioned risk of changing teams, starting her season off strongly with second at her National Championships Road Race and seventh at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. What followed was a consistent string of performances at the early European races, including eighth at Strade Bianche and seventh at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. And then onwards to that Tour, where she rode under the radar to achieve her fifth overall.

Testament to her consistency, it was by far her only success of the season too. With a second-place finish behind Magdeleine Vallieres at the World Championships Road Race in Kigali, to add to her U23 title from 2022, she was a feature throughout the season.

For Fisher-Black, 2025 felt like a turning point. She comes across as a rider, who thrives off the confidence that top performances can bring. It’s like she needs to see it herself before she believes it — she needs to see herself fighting it out with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma on the final stage of the biggest race of the year, before she can comprehend its reality. 

So, this year was different to previous seasons because she started to feel she could compete with the best, which brought both confidence and pressure. 

Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com

“The pressure is kind of a love-hate thing. It's not particularly nice, but it's part of the challenge. I think this year in a new team is the first year I've sort of felt pressure not just from myself, but pressure from the fact that there is a team around me, and I have teammates working really hard for me, and I want to finish it off for them. And that's sort of been a learning curve for me this year,” said Fisher-Black. 

However, it’s obvious with the results she has achieved not only in 2025 but for the past number of seasons, Fisher-Black should expect more and more of a leadership role in Lidl-Trek. But despite shouldering more of that responsibility, most of her pressure still comes from within. Fisher-Black was honest about the burden that athletes place upon themselves, especially when they get closer and closer to the top. 

It’s in that liminal state, where the top of the sport is within touching distance, where only a handful of athletes call home, where pipedreams could be realised, where Fisher-Black now resides: “This is the first year that I've started to realise I can maybe compete with the best of the best. So that's sort of grown my confidence, but it also brings a lot more pressure on myself.”

Cover image: Tornanti