"It's just very cruel. So unfair" - Dutch analyst reacts with grief to Puck Pieterse's Olympic mountain bike heartbreak

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."