Puck Pieterse powers through the field to win mountain bike race in Austria

Puck Pieterse showed exactly why she’s the reigning world champion on the mountain bike, storming from the third row of the grid to take a commanding victory in the short track race in Austria.

The 23-year-old Dutch rider didn’t have the ideal starting position, beginning the race from row three, but wasted little time carving through the field. By the end of the opening lap, a short, frantic circuit, Pieterse had already moved up to 11th place, and was looking ominous.

Early on, it was Switzerland’s Jolanda Neff, a former Olympic champion, who forced the pace, gaining a small gap in the process. But as the laps ticked by, Pieterse’s rhythm and power began to tell. The rainbow bands were looming.

On the fifth lap, Pieterse launched her move, dropping the rest of the field with a decisive acceleration. Sammie Maxwell and Candice Lill tried to respond, but Pieterse was relentless. By the start of the penultimate lap, she had carved out a 13-second advantage over Maxwell, and in the end she sailed clear.

That cushion allowed Pieterse to back off slightly in the final stages, with Sunday’s cross-country race still to come. But the result was never in doubt.

The Dutch star continues to impress across disciplines. Last summer she left her mark on the Tour de France Femmes last year with a stage win and the young rider classification. Now, with her short track victory in Austria, she adds another dominant performance to an already stacked palmarès.