Puck Pieterse after narrow defeat from Fem van Empel: "I had come further than last year, maybe I'll have another chance next year"

It was not meant to be for Puck Pieterse in the Benidorm World Cup. In the Spanish cross she fought a tough duel with Fem van Empel, but a slight tactical mistake in the final turn may have cost her the sweet victory at the end of the day.

"It went well, Fem and I were evenly matched," Pieterse tells WielerFlits afterwards. "I think it was a very nice race to ride and see. Unfortunately I just missed it in the last lap, but I had come further than last year, so who knows, maybe I'll have another chance next year."

Van Empel made the difference in one of the last corners. The world champion ducked under Pieterse and pushed her aside with a light push on the shoulder. "Am I done? That's always the case, isn't it, in such a sprint. We both know that we want to be the first to get through that last corner. And I also know that Fem wants to get past me there, because that was the last moment where it was really possible."

"She came with a lot of speed, but you can't block the whole way. You can make yourself broad, but that's it. I thought: I'll take another line and then cross her. But she was gone so quickly, so it was a lost cause then. Did I leave too much space? Maybe so, but if I had ridden very right from the start, she would have passed me on the left."