"It was such chaos there" - Puck Pieterse settles for third in snowy Val di Sole

Still waiting for her first win of the campaign, Puck Pieterse was forced to settle for the third step on the podium in the latest round of UCI World Cup action in the snow of Val di Sole.

“It was very tough. The tone was set in the first corner, it was such chaos there,” says the Dutch champion in her post-race interview. “The rest of the match went very well. Then you rode well, but you were also taken out of focus. That made it very difficult.”

With Manon Bakker taking a first career World Cup win and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado coming home in second, Pieterse was left to battle Kristyna Zemanova for the final place on the podium.

“It was quite icy because it was a hard surface. You really had to choose your moments where you could really cycle. It was really exciting, but it's good that I still finished on the podium. I want to continue that streak of podium finishes," she concludes. "I already saw on Wednesday that Manon Bakker was flying during training, but to confirm it like this is very nice for her."