💛 | Puck Pieterse is nog maar net hersteld van haar Olympische mountainbikerit, maar kijkt in interview met ons al vooruit op haar eerste Tourstart: "Het lekkere is dat helemaal niets hoeft". Lees het hele interview via letourfemmes-rotterdam.nl/pechvogel-piet… #TDFFROTTERDAM2024
"There is little time for self-pity now" - Puck Pieterse targets Tour de France Femmes White Jersey after Olympic heartbreak
CyclingWednesday, 31 July 2024 at 20:30
Puck Pieterse looked incredibly strong in the women's mountain bike at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Sadly for the 22-year-old Dutchwoman however, a late puncture ended any hopes of a medal. As is the case with most sports though, there is no time to dwell on disappointment, with the next goal just weeks away.
"Look, I had some bad luck during the Olympic Games and I will have to deal with this emotionally, but it's not like I broke five arms or anything. I don't have to make a hard comeback," assesses Pieterse herself in conversation with the official website of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, after her inclusion in the Grand Tour was confirmed. "There is little time for self-pity now, because the Mountain Bike World Championships are already two weeks after the Tour. I think I will only get around to the mental recovery process after that.”
A prodigious talent across multiple different discipline, just what is the ceiling for Pieterse on her Tour de France Femmes debut? Although she's yet to win a senior race on the road, top-10 finishes at the likes of Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Gent Wevelgem point to the 22-year-old's immense potential.
“I will probably get a free role. It would be nice to really compete at the front in the tougher stages," says the Fenix-Deceuninck rider, who is likely to be joined the team's star riders, Yara Kasteleijn and Pauliena Rooijakkers. "I don’t have the pressure to take the Yellow Jersey, for example. If I lose half an hour in the first stage, it doesn’t really matter. Then I can set other goals again. The nice thing is that nothing has to be done.”
Whilst the Yellow Jersey may admittedly be out of reach for Pieterse, the White Jersey for Best Young Rider, will be something she has more than one eye on. "It is really cool to experience, especially because I am still a promise. Do I secretly have ambitions for the white jersey? As I said: losing time in the general classification is really no drama. But if I were to go for something, it would be the youth classification," Pieterse concludes.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024