Annemiek van Vleuten's wait for the first victory of her final season in the women's world tour peloton continues after a sixth-placed finish at Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes. Afterwards, the 40-year-old expressed her disappointment.
"As a team, we rode very badly today," the Movistar Team leader told NOS in a post-race interview. “We had one task as a team and that was to be part of the leading group as a team." Unfortunately for van Vleuten and her teammates, this was not to be the case.
As a strong group included talented riders such as Marlen Reusser, Amanda Spratt and Katarzyna Niewiadoma went clear, van Vleuten admits panic immediately set in. “Then you let a leading group like that drive away. That may not happen," she explains sharply. "We then rode behind the facts all day and then you have to attack for the Roche-aux-Faucons to close the gap.”
“You don't want that, the idea is to keep the legs fresh for the Roche-aux-Faucons. It is good to put things in focus again in a team meeting. It's good to discuss this. This should not happen at this level.” continues van Vleuten who eventually came home 22 seconds behind the race winner Demi Vollering. “Demi was also just better today. I couldn't join, although the difference wasn't that big. That gives the citizen courage for the rest of the season. I'd rather go down fighting than be sidelined by a flat tire or crash."
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