The ladies racing the Santos Tour Down Under had a lot to beat in three days of racing – with excessive temperatures and hilly terrain placing the peloton to the take a look at.
While each rider absolutely had their very own inner struggles and trials to beat, for Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) ending third general felt like a victory after two critical accidents that might have ended her profession or been life-changing.
“I had a extremely large crash in 2022 and I fought actually exhausting to get again,” Ottestad instructed Cyclingnews. “And then I crashed once more and had a extreme concussion that I struggled so much with. Then final yr, I began slowly to get again however I had some ups and downs, and nonetheless some dangerous luck however now lastly, the coaching has been going very nicely, and I’ve been feeling simply actually, actually good on the bike. Now we see lastly, all of the exhausting work is paying off, so it is very nice.”
Her first crash got here within the Tour of Scandinavia in 2022, she defined.
“It was a extremely exhausting crash, and I broke my neck and my again, so it took a very long time to recuperate, and I additionally could not journey my bike exterior for half a yr,” Ottestad mentioned. She spent three months in a neck brace. So it was powerful.
“Then, the yr after I crashed once more within the Tour de France. It wasn’t actually an enormous crash, nevertheless it obtained me out of the racing for half a yr once more [with a concussion],” she mentioned. “Finally, I’m beginning to have some luck once more, so it is a good feeling.”
Ottestad confirmed her kind on stage 2 to Willunga Hill the place she completed third and claimed the identical place within the general standings, then she needed to burn numerous matches to resist quite a few assaults, specifically from UAE Team ADQ, who regarded to have Dominika Włodarczyk transfer forward of Ottestad onto the rostrum.
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“I used to be perhaps a bit too keen, however that is simply how my racing model is. I actually love to only be on it and simply make it a tough race. Maybe I used a bit an excessive amount of vitality as a result of I did not have one thing left for the dash, however not less than I saved the GC, and that was the principle purpose for at the moment.”
Another rider with obstacles to beat was Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto’s Maike van der Duin, who went on the assault within the closing kilometres of the stage, efficiently serving to to arrange teammate Chloé Dygert for the stage win.
“I used to be going full in for the Chloé,” Van der Duin defined to Cyclingnews. “Our plan was to make it exhausting within the last and simply go for the assaults as a result of that might be an enormous profit for her. I did not imagine that [the attack] was for the win, however I believed that it could be the right setup for Chloé for the stage.”
Van der Duin confirmed stable kind after a troublesome 2024 throughout which she suffered a damaged ankle and the demise of her father, but in addition celebrated successful a bronze medal within the Madison on the Olympic Games.
“Last yr was not my greatest yr, and in my private life, so much occurred. The group gave me time to take an enormous break and are available again as the true Mieke. I feel I’m not in my greatest form, fortunately, as a result of it is January, however this provides numerous confidence and numerous confidence from the group that I’m on my method again to turning into like myself once more. And that is an ideal feeling.”
Between Ottestad’s setbacks, Van der Duin’s struggles and Dygert’s return to kind after quite a few accidents and diseases, the resilience of the ladies of the Tour Down Under is a real inspiration.