Puck Pieterse calls for even harder Women's Milano-Sanremo course: "I think the distance should be at least 200 kilometres"
Cycling
The first participation at Milano-Sanremo Women was a tough experience for all the ladies, but Puck Pieterse already calls for the race to be made even longer. And thus harder.
"The race was more fun than expected actually," Pieterse said about her experience at NOS afterwards. "Was it a difficult race to win? Definitely. There are many possible scenarios. I think that more riders, like me, had hoped that it would be a bit tougher. But yes, on the Poggio we didn't have enough riders left in the team to set the pace. I don't think the others either. This year a sprinter will win, but hopefully next year a climber will."
One way to make the race harder is to make the course longer. The women now ride 'only' 156 kilometres, while the men cover 289 kilometres. "I would definitely like it to be longer. The great thing about San Remo for men is that it is a long race. That makes the Poggio tough for them, but for us everyone arrived reasonably fresh. I think the distance should be at least 200 kilometres. But it could easily be longer. If we were on the bike for five, five and a half hours, that would be great."
Queen of Poggio
The men's race was decided on Cipressa where Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna obliterated the previous fastest ascent by more than 20 seconds. Therefore the Poggio became much more tactical. On contrary the women saved all their matches for the final obstacle on the course and that spelled the end to Ilaria Sanguineti's time of 7:07 from 2017.
During the reconnaissance of Milan-San Remo, Pieterse already came close with a time of 7:17, but in the race she went much faster. Pieterse arrived sixth at the top of the Poggio and recorded a time of 6:44. Just behind Pieterse are Chloé Dygert and Mavi Garcia now with the times 6:45 and 6:48. Whether she'll keep the title will depend on some more riders uploading their activity onto Strava, but in any case she'd be overtaken by just split seconds.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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