Puck Pieterse added one other world title to her palmares within the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich on Saturday, taking out the under-23 championship within the mixed race with the elite ladies, ending in thirteenth place, three minutes behind elite winner Lotte Kopecky (Belgium).
Pieterse’s victory within the under-23 highway race in Zurich got here in harsh circumstances, with rain and temperatures of 10°C. She out-sprinted Neve Bradbury (Australia) and Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) to take house the title.
“It was such a tough race, and it was so cool at present. Luckily the ladies received me by way of it a bit, particularly within the ultimate. I used to be actually fortunate to nonetheless have Mischa [Bredewold] by my facet, as a result of within the final lap, we received dropped, after which I knew it will in all probability be a dash end for the beneath 23s. Unfortunately, we by no means noticed the entrance once more anymore.”
Her outcome was a shiny spot for the Dutch workforce who missed making the elite podium for the primary time since 2014.
“It’s unusual that I’m already two years driving elite world championships within the mountain bike and in cyclocross after which out of the blue being within the beneath 23s once more. But after all it is a very nice option to end my time as an under-23.”
Pieterse, who gained the UCI MTB World Championships cross nation race in August, has had a spectacular 2024 season. On the highway, she landed two podiums throughout the Spring Classics within the Ronde van Drenthe and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and a stage win and the most effective younger riders’ classification win on the Tour de France Femmes.
“I had a extremely good highway season, Spring Classics, after which I did the Tour, after all, and it is simply very nice to as soon as once more present my form. It’s good that there is a good jersey with that, too.”
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The UCI added an under-23 highway world championship title for ladies in 2022, with Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand) taking the primary title and Blanka Vas (Hungary) the jersey in 2023. The UCI has now added a separate race for under-23 ladies, with the debut occasion in Rwanda on the 2025 UCI Road World Championships.
Off-road, Pieterse chalked up victories within the European MTB Championships in May however suffered a puncture that pressured her out of the medals on the Olympic Games, the place she completed a disenchanted fourth.
When requested if successful the MTB and under-23 world titles made up for the outcome, Pieterse mentioned, “It’s very nice to have these two jerseys. But after all, the most effective state of affairs would have been to have a medal on the Olympics as nicely. So it would not make up for it, nevertheless it’s one thing price mentioning.”
“Everybody noticed that I used to be in form once I wanted to be on the Olympics. And I’m additionally actually comfortable about that. For the primary time I did not do something flawed once I was getting ready for it, and all the things fell into place.”
“I realized the right way to be in my finest form and to not have a outcome afterwards is a bummer, however I may nonetheless use my form for the Tour and now for the highway worlds.”
Pieterse will race for one final world title of the season at subsequent week’s UCI Gravel World Championships earlier than taking a break.
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