Puck Pieterse hield zich lang groot. Vierde na een lekke band, maar toch de winnaars faciliteren. Daarna totaal ontdaan, maar ze breekt pas bij de eerste knuffel, van koningin Maxima. #Olympics
"It's just very cruel. So unfair" - Dutch analyst reacts with grief to Puck Pieterse's Olympic mountain bike heartbreak
Mountain BikeMonday, 29 July 2024 at 14:45
Puck Pieterse narrowly missed out on claiming a first Olympic medal in her burgeoning career on Sunday afternoon, finishing 4th in the women's mountain bike race, as home crowd favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prevot took the gold medal in Paris.
Whilst the French star was clearly the strongest on the day, Pieterse had settled into a comfortable second place and looked set for the silver medal. As the talented Dutch youngster would have begun dreaming of the medal ceremony however, disaster struck in the form of an untimely puncture, with Pieterse slipping back down the field as a result. Although she managed to work her way back up to 4th, the podium and the medals were ultimately out of reach.
"The word that comes to mind: it's just very cruel. So unfair," reacts ex-pro turned cycling analyst Niels Zonneveld via the In Het Wiel podcast. "She was just consolidating, because gold was no longer in the cards, she took very few risks, Ferrand-Prévot was too good. The lead was so big on the rest, it was really just a matter of catching up."
"After the finish I followed her, she first rode to the winner to congratulate her. Then the numbers two and three. Then she went to the mixed zone , in control. There was Irene Schouten. And she said: 'Oh, in four years you'll have another chance,'" Zonneveld continues, praising Pieterse's maturity. "That's when she really broke down, and the realization hit her. Four years... Four years! Do you know how long that is? This could very well have been her best chance and then she had to cry really hard. Then the realization hit her from one moment to the next. She then said to the press officer: 'I want to get out of here.' Then she also realized that the Games only come once every four years. She's still young, but you just don't know how careers go."
Read also
claps 2visitors 1192
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Funny... one doper enabler backing the doper he enabled ! Who would have guessed.frieders322-12-2024
- Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’tMistermaumau22-12-2024
- So you're bored, got itvappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- Does everything need to have a point? If so, 99% of the internet should be wiped away. In relation to recent articles with quotes from other riders, my statement points to the ever more obvious reason why they are asked to comment on the effect of his return.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If anyone would be interested enough to launch an official survey as to who out of these three should shut up, I don’t know who’d win but I’m due Boonen would be way back in 3rd place.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- And your point is what exactly?vappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024