Riejanne Markus settles for seventh place in time trial: "It's been a long season and it just isn't working anymore"

Riejanne Markus was one of the top favorites in the Dutch jersey at the start of the European Time Trial Championships, but ultimately had to settle for seventh place in Emmen. The time trial specialist could not reach her normal watts and therefore couldn't compete for top result in Drenthe.

Markus finished second at the European Championship against the clock in Fürstenfeldbruck last year, but in her home country she could only have finished seventh. The reason? A double crash in the Simac Ladies Tour, which prevented her from optimally preparing for the championship. "I was actually afraid of it all week. I hoped that things would turn out well by resting as much as possible, but that really wasn't possible. I couldn't deliver the best and you need that here."

The busy schedule was also something she cited, just like after the World Championships, as a possible reason for the 'lesser' performance. "Things didn't go very well in the Tour and at the World Championships, and after those two falls I couldn't really recover properly. It's just the end of the season and the body needs a lot of recovery, it's kind of done. And I have the feeling that I'm not the only one, I see it with more riders. It's been a long season and it just isn't working anymore. But maybe I just needed this to get through it."

What comes next? "Quite a bit," Markus bursts out laughing the moment she gives the answer. "The Mixed Relay and the road race. I will evaluate with the staff and then we will see how things go in the coming days," she says with slight uncertainty about the sequel in Drenthe in her voice. "Now I'm going back to the hotel, getting a massage and then watching a movie or something. Then we'll see what happens."