In a frantic bunch sprint finish to stage 3 of the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina, Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL's Charlotte Kool was forced to settle for second place behind Marianne Vos.
“Today’s stage was really hard from the start. To be honest I didn’t believe it could end in a bunch sprint with how it started," Kool reflected in a post-stage interview with her team's official website. "On the main climb the pace was hard but it was actually okay all things considered, and we came back in a group with the help of the girls. Then in the final Daniek did really well helping in the chase. It was really tough then in the deep final as Visma of course tried to make it as hard as possible on any of the climbs and the punchy finish."
Having had such a hard day attempting to stay at the front, Kool just didn't have the power left in her legs to fire to the stage win in the finale. "Juliette and Eleonora did amazing in the lead-out to bring me forward in the last couple of kilometres. Then in the final few hundred metres I didn’t have the best position and I really missed a bit in my legs after the hard stage," she admits. "I had some momentum but it was too far to go and had to wait to open up the sprint, and in the end it wasn’t enough for the win. I’m really happy that we gave everything and we tried together, and hopefully tomorrow it is a pure bunch sprint.”
As Kool touched upon there, stage 4 is likely to be a more traditional sprint stage and as such, the 24-year-old Dutchwoman will fancy her chances of matching her feat from 2023 and taking a La Vuelta Femenina stage win.
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