"I still don’t know why..." - Dutch champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak reacts to non-selection for Tour de France Femmes with start in her home region

Current Dutch road champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak will not be at the start of the Tour de France Femmes in Rotterdam next week. At least, not as a rider. The rider, who was born in Rotterdam and lives in the region, was quite surprisingly not selected by her team SD Worx - Protime.

"I don’t know why I wouldn’t be allowed to participate, especially since Lotte Kopecky and Marlen Reusser are not starting on behalf of our team. I thought I had a good chance," the Dutch champion told WielerFlits. "After the Dutch title, I was back to my old level. I still find it difficult to talk about. I’ve had a tough period."

In June, the SD Worx rider was crowned Dutch road champion in Arnhem, which clearly underlined her comeback after her pregnancy. Blaak called her victory at the time "the most beautiful victory of her career", partly because daughter Noa was waiting for her mother at the finish line and Blaak was able to take her daughter onto the podium afterwards.

"I said that in emotion," Blaak reflects. "But it is still one of the most beautiful victories in my career. It was a reward for everything, after my pregnancy I really had to start from scratch, so it was very emotional. Being able to return after a pregnancy is really something of the past few years. In the past, that was really not an option."

When will see the Dutch tricolore in the peloton again? "I don’t know yet," she admits. "At the moment I’m just quietly doing my hours, but without a goal you can’t keep doing that forever. At the moment the disappointment is still very big, but I’m sure there will be another goal soon. It’s true that the women’s calendar isn’t completely set up properly this year with the cancellation of the Tour of Scandinavia. Hopefully I can go to the European Championships, but only if I’m good enough."