"I wanted to get onto Kopecky's wheel, but I didn't quite dare to": Frustrated Puck Pieterse reflects on missed sprint opportunity at Milano-San Remo
Cycling
After fighting her way into the decisive lead group at the women's Milano-Sanremo Women, Puck Pieterse was left bitterly disappointed to finish just off the podium. The Fenix-Premier Tech rider was visibly frustrated after crossing the line in fourth place. She was outsprinted by winner Lotte Kopecky, Noemi Rüegg and Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini.
Sprint frustrations and a few choice words
Making the final selection in a Monument is a massive achievement, but for a fierce competitor like Pieterse, missing out on the podium was a tough pill to swallow. Her immediate reaction after the finish line involved a fair bit of swearing.
“I won't repeat what I said, but I really would have liked to ride a better sprint here,” Pieterse admitted to the press once she had a moment to cool down.
Despite her frustration, the young Dutch star was realistic about her chances in a flat-out drag race to the line against established sprinters and classics specialists like Lotte Kopecky and Noemi Rüegg. “Yes, I knew it would be tough. I was hoping Rüegg would be tired, but she ended up just having a strong sprint. That's a shame.”
The final podium of Milano-Sanremo Women 2026
Tactical regrets in the finale
When breaking down the final frantic meters on the Via Roma, Pieterse wasn't entirely sure where things went wrong, but she quickly identified a few split-second decisions that might have cost her a better result.
“I wanted to get onto Kopecky's wheel, but I didn't quite dare to," she explained. "I knew Rüegg's wheel would be good too. In hindsight, maybe I should have started the sprint from second position, but I first need to watch the footage to see what I did right and wrong.”
Like Kim Le Court-Pienaar, Pieterse was right at the front of the race when the massive pileup occurred on the blind corner of the Cipressa descent. The Fenix-Premier Tech rider expressed deep concern for Kasia Niewiadoma while revealing just how close she came to going down herself.
"I hope Kasia is okay. It really didn't look good," Pieterse said, reflecting on the chaos. "I almost crashed just before that myself, but after that, I was extra focused."
Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment