Puck Pieterse gains confidence after fourth place in Namur: "This is promising"

Puck Pieterse finished her first cyclocross race of the winter in fourth place. In the Namur World Cup, the Dutch champion was fighting for a spot on the podium for a long time but ultimately had to concede to Lucinda Brand, Aniek van Alphen, and the French rider Amandine Fouquenet.

Last week, they had an extensive discussion with Pieterse about her cyclocross campaign, which will consist of ten to thirteen races. “In the past three years that I’ve raced cyclocross, I’ve been fairly consistent in vying for victories and podiums. I expect to show that again this year. Above all, I hope to enjoy myself and confirm to myself that my form is on point,” she said at the time.

She ultimately succeeded. “I think I should be satisfied,” she told BiCycling. “It certainly wasn’t an easy race to start with. But from the start, I was able to hold my own, and I believe it’s a fair course where everyone finds their place. I was in contention for third place for a long time but had to let Amandine Fouquenet get away in the end.”

“I had a very strong third lap, which gave me confidence. But in the final lap, I couldn’t clip in just before the descent. Only on the uphill section was I able to push at full power again. I lost a lot of time there. But in the end, I’m still satisfied. I think this start is promising. I want to compete for the podium every time, and I managed that straight away. In my first cyclocross of the winter, I also made far fewer mistakes compared to last year and have been able to train well leading up to the season.”