"At the finish I had no idea I had won" - Tord Gudmestad reacts to his surprising Veenendaal-Veenendaal victory

Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic made for quite some unexpected results despite a rather predictable bunch sprint finish. One such is the unlikey winner Tord Gudmestad, who managed to beat far more resounding names on his way to victory, ending the two-year reigning of Dylan Groenewegen.

"It's incredible," says happy Gudmestad after his victory in Veenendaal during an interview for WielerFlits. "The team worked really well all day and we had a rider in the breakaway."

"It was not easy to set up the lead-out, because we had to choose who we went for. In the end, Fredheim managed to put me off really well and I had to go for it. I closed my eyes and gave it my all," Gudemstad describes his road to a first professional victory.

The Norwegian opened the sprint from the first position in the final and managed to hold on to the leading position against the likes of Groenewegen. "I'm doing a lot of lead-outs this year and training a lot for long sprints. Even if I get a little stiff, I can often keep going. It's great to take my first professional victory like this. At the finish I had no idea I had won. I heard it on the radio."

The 23-year-old rider therefore claims first big triumph in the professional bunch and as such, the Norwegian finally sees his hard work rewarded. "You always dream of winning, but if you go for some time without winning, something changes mentally. Now that I have the win, I definitely hope to get more.

While his first win among pros, Gudmestad is no stranger to winning races as he has shown before stepping up to Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (now Uno-X Mobility) ahead of 2022. The year before that, Gudmestad won no less than four races, including a Norwegian champion title in the U23 category. However since his last victory in February 2022 at Turkish GP Megasaray, the 23-year-old had to wait for more than two years to celebrate his own success again.