Yara Kastelijn about her first professional road victory: "Winning at the Tour cannot be compared to anything"

Yara Kastelijn's only victory of the 2023 season was perhaps the best of her career. The 26-year-old Dutch woman soloed from the break to stage victory during the fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes to Rodez.

It was Kastelijn's first victory on the road, but she had already built up an impressive record in the field before that. The Dutch won the 2019 European Cyclo-cross Championships, which are scheduled for next Saturday. "Winning at the Tour cannot be compared to anything," she tells Wielerrevue. "There was a lot of life in the village where I live. When I returned, I was warmly welcomed by my fellow villagers. That made it very special and you can see that winning a stage in the Tour de France Femmes is more highly regarded than winning the European Cyclo-Cross Championships."

Last year, Kastelijn finished thirteenth, just under twenty minutes behind winner Annemiek van Vleuten. This year the focus was elsewhere. "During the altitude training period, I sat down with Michel Cornelisse and the trainers and we discussed how we envisioned the Tour. I wanted to race aggressively, because that also suits this team. Have fun and don't just follow. Cycling becomes so much more fun if you can show yourself. We did that in the Tour de France Femmes and actually also in the rest of the year."

This year's edition was completely dominated by SD Worx. The duo Demi Vollering-Lotte Kopecky finished first and second in the final rankings for the Dutch team, which also completed four stages. "I sometimes think the tactics of other teams are special. It is true that the difference in level in women's cycling is still too great, but it is also magnified by the tactics of some teams. Some teams are simply in the lead for SD Worx."