VolkerWessels have been one of many standout groups on the Tour of Chongming Island. Although considerably overshadowed by Ceratizit-WNT profitable all three levels and the GC, the Dutch crew had its sprinters Sofie van Rooijen and Scarlett Souren place fourth and fifth on stage 1 in addition to second and third on stage 3, with Souren ending third total to win the white U23 jersey. Van Rooijen was one spot additional down in GC, and Anne Knijnenburg took dwelling the QOM jersey.
“Our plan was to go for the GC via the dash finishes and the bonus seconds on the intermediate plan. On stage 2, they selected the mistaken aspect of the street within the dash and didn’t get a outcome. That meant the GC was gone. But we nonetheless had the white jersey, took the QOM after which tried to win the stage with Scarlett,” defined crew supervisor Raymond Rol to Cyclingnews.
Rol denied hypothesis that the crew had forgone final week’s Simac Ladies Tour of their dwelling nation within the hunt for UCI factors: “We had three groups for Varese, Simac and the China races, however six of our riders weren’t match for Simac, so we cancelled it. I feel we do essentially the most races of all groups, and the planning was at all times to go to China,” he stated.
The VolkerWessels crew was included on early crew lists for the Simac Ladies Tour earlier than they pulled out. In the 2024 season, the crew could have achieved 112 UCI race days plus a number of Dutch or Belgian non-UCI races, considerably greater than most Women’s WorldTour groups who’ve lined up between 80 and 100 occasions, with just a few groups above the 100 days of racing mark.
The crew is in good spirits because it travels to Guangxi for the ultimate race of the season, the Tour of Guangxi one-day race. In the UCI rating, they already have been forward of Women’s WorldTour crew Roland and stand to additionally cross Uno-X Mobility as soon as the factors from the Chinese races (the place the Norwegian crew is not racing) are calculated.
Going into 2024, the crew was solely fifth within the rating of Women’s Continental Teams, lacking the automated invites and never getting a wildcard for the Tour de France Femmes. This was a tough blow to the crew that (then nonetheless named Parkhotel Valkenburg) has had Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Mischa Bredewold, Pauliena Rooijakkers, Karlijn Swinkels, and lots of different WWT riders cross via its ranks, lacking out on beginning the Dutch Grand Départ.
For 2025, although, the coveted automated invitation to all Women’s WorldTour races appears just about safe, with the final remaining hoop to leap via being registration within the new Women’s ProTeam class.
“Hopefully, we shall be professional subsequent 12 months, and with the factors we collected, we could have the wildcard. I’m wanting ahead to subsequent 12 months with the expertise manufacturing facility,” stated Rol.