Orange at the top of the women’s promises. The Dutch Puck Pieterse crowned herself as world champion after an exciting sprint with compatriot Shirin van Anrooij, who nevertheless shook off a great final round. Fem van Empel completed the Dutch party with third place.
Puck Pieterse, Shirin van Anrooij and Fem van Empel. The podium was already known in advance, only for the order there would be a battle between the 3 Dutch top favorites.
Van Empel was the fastest on paper, Pieterse has the fastest climb in her legs.
When Van Empel couldn’t zip up a hole fast enough, Pieterse and Van Anrooij tried to sideline their compatriot. But Van Empel showed resilience and picked up again.
“Van Empel was more concerned with fiddling with her jersey in the first 20 minutes than anything else. She gives the best impression”, judged Sven Nys along the course.
This issue put the final in the final fold
Van Empel gets stuck in final lap
When the three of them dived into the final round, the sandwich seemed baked for the cat-appeal Van Empel.
But on a steep bump, Van Empel tapped Pieterse’s rear wheel. The latter seemed out of the blue, but that was counted without Van Anrooij.
In the final sprint Pieterse started first. Van Anrooij still seemed to get next to her compatriot, but stranded on three quarters of a wheel. Van Empel completed the orange podium.
Kiona Crabbé, our only compatriot in the race, took 11th place.
View the final print from the incident on the hill
Puck Pieterse: “Glad that we are on the podium with 3 compatriots”
It was such a strange race”, were the first words of winner Puck Pieterse. “There were three of us and we alternated constantly, but nobody got away.”
“I had the plan to start on the climb, but I couldn’t get the other girls out of my wheel. Then came that bump and that was tricky. I heard my team shout that I had a gap, but Shirin (van Anrooij ) came back.”
“In the sprint I went full throttle, but I doubted whether I had won. It was close.”
Van Anrooij: “I blocked in the sprint”
Fem van Empel: “If you are so unlucky, tears will come to your eyes”
Puck Pieterse: “First win of the season, and immediately the most important”
Kiona Crabbé: “The atmosphere here was really great”
Kiona Crabbé finished 11th after an even cross: “The top 10 was in sight for a while. It was fun with this top atmosphere. All that encouragement was fun.”
“That Pieterse is world champion? I indicated it in advance. She deserves it after her season.”
