Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) strains up for a 3rd time in her profession at Strade Bianche and this time she is without doubt one of the primary opponents set to problem outright favorite Demi Vollering at the white gravel roads into Siena on Saturday.
The reigning cross-country mountain motorbike international champion famous her progressed shape in comparison to earlier seasons, particularly at the avenue racing scene, and expects to be within the working for a place at the podium.
“The Strade Bianche was my first big performance on the road ever, so the goal should just be to compete for the prizes in that race again. We will do our best in any case,” she mentioned in an interview with Wielerflits.
The multi-discipline racer, who competes throughout mountain motorbike, cyclocross and avenue, handiest started competing at the world-class avenue racing scene in 2023.
Her first race that 12 months used to be at Omloop van het Hageland after which she coated up on the WorldTour’s Strade Bianche the place she completed 5th position on the finish of the punishingly steep By way of Santa Caterina and into the Piazza del Campo at the back of the day’s winner Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Annemiek van Vleuten.
An indication of a powerful long run in avenue racing, Pieterse used to be thirteenth at Strade Bianche closing 12 months and secured seven top-10 finishes all over the Spring Classics ahead of turning her consideration to the Paris Olympic Video games the place she used to be fourth within the cross-country mountain motorbike race.
In her debut on the Excursion de France Femmes, she made her biggest efficiency in avenue racing to this point, beating Vollering to win level 4 in Liège, after which securing the most productive younger rider classification.
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Pieterse believes that she has made extra enhancements in her avenue racing shape this 12 months, and certainly in her first race of the season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, she used to be the one rider who may just stick with Vollering at the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The pair sprinted for the general podium spot at the back of the main breakaway Lotte Claes (Arkea-B&B Motels) and Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal).
“That shows that I have taken another step,” Pieterse mentioned. “The good thing was that we started the Muur van Geraardsbergen quite fresh, which was perhaps to my advantage to be able to follow Demi. Last year, I had to let go on the Muur, this year I could follow. I was very happy with that.”
At Strade Bianche on Saturday, Vollering, who won the 2023 edition, will be the outright favourite and Pieterse is one of the major contenders alongside a few of the sport’s biggest starts; Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).
She said that her body had recovered from the cyclocross season and that she had an opportunity to train in the warmer weather with Fenix-Deceuninck in Spain and is hoping to see the effects of her training block at Strade Bianche.
“We stayed in a high-altitude resort there. So closing weekend it used to be nonetheless a little of a wait-and-see state of affairs, which is logical when you’ve got simply come from a high-altitude coaching camp,” she mentioned.
The ladies’s box will compete around the 136km race that includes one further gravel sector this 12 months for a complete of 50km cut up throughout 13 sectors of off-road – a course that are meant to completely go well with a rider like Pieterse.
