Puck Pieterse suffers through the race on Sunday: "I've never had such a long period in which I could train at a lower quality"

Puck Pieterse fell ill last week and so it was no surprise that she had a bad day during the Hoogerheide World Cup, although things looked well at first.

"But I fell through and didn't want to force anything afterwards. I decided to ride my own race and there was no acceleration left, unfortunately," she told WielerFlits afterwards.

In the end, Pieterse only finished eighth, more than a minute behind winner Fem van Empel. "If you are sick you should not race, I say normally, but it went well and I have rested a lot in recent days," said the leader of Fenix-Deceuninck.

A week before the cyclocross World Championships in Tábor, it is not an ideal situation for Pieterse, who recently also suffered a knee injury. "It's a shame, I've never actually had such a long period in which I could train at a lower quality. I don't necessarily go to the World Championships with a good feeling, but I am open to everything," she says honestly.