'I looked back, and there was really nobody left' – Puck Pieterse plays crucial role for Demi Vollering in united Dutch performance at World Championships

After her sixth-place finish in the women’s elite road race at the UCI Road World Championships, Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) flew through the mixed zone on her bike, shouting "I’ll come back" to the waiting journalists. The reason became apparent when the whole Dutch team, including national coach Laurens ten Dam, joined newly-crowned World Champion Demi Vollering on the podium to celebrate the victory after a united team performance.

"It was super cool; everybody was happy for each other. We put quite some pressure on ourselves; we had an ambitious plan, but there was also a lot of pressure from the media," said Pieterse on her second pass of the mixed zone, once the podium celebrations were over.

"The Netherlands are really quite dominant in women’s cycling, but then, coming to the World Championships, everything has to come together. Demi has to have a very good day, all the others also need to have a good day to perform their tasks. But I think we showed a lot of confidence throughout the race, and that helped Demi as well,"

In previous years, the Dutch national selection had had several leaders who often could not agree on who to support during the race, sometimes to their own detriment. But on Saturday, the orange-clad team rode as one to support Vollering’s goal of her first-ever rainbow jersey – a decision made easier by Vollering’s domination throughout the season.

"Everybody had the same goal. I think that was the case in the past too, but then there were several riders with big wins throughout the season," said Pieterse. "Now it was clear, when one rider wins the Tour, Flanders, Liège, Flèche Wallonne, well, that’s your leader."

Amber Kraak, Femke de Vries, Riejanne Markus, Lieke Nooijen, and Karlijn Swinkels controlled the race for a long time, with three Dutch riders at the front of the peloton for most of the race until a first tentative move was made by France’s Maëva Squiban in the last 55km.

"At one point, it became a bit harder, about a lap before [Vollering’s attack]. We didn’t have the numbers and Squiban went away," added Pietersen. "But we stuck to our plan, we had the idea that we would make our move with three laps to go, and that’s what we did."

Her own job was arguably the most important one, pulling hard up the Voie Camillien-Houde, the main climb of the 13.3km Montreal circuit, to set up Vollering’s attack with 38km to go.

"That pull had to be as long as possible. So I went all-out there. When Demi attacked, I looked back, and there was really nobody left in the wheel, so I thought, ‘okay, it was hard enough’," said the 24-year-old.

"Then I dropped back to the group with Kasia. I didn’t have to do much more, but I also was really exhausted. At one point, I saw we were getting closer and tried to disrupt the chase a bit."

After that, with her leader up the road, Pieterse had a free pass in the groups behind, but the lead-out had taken so much out of her that she couldn’t follow the moves in the final.

It was here that her leader was caught by Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland) and Elisa Longo Borhgini (Italy), forced to chase down the latter after she attacked, and then hold onto the former when she tried to drop her on the final kicker. In the end, a sprint between the Dutch rider and the Pole saw Volelring still emerge victorious, even if it wasn't from plan A.

"After my lead-out, I was still in a good position to get a result myself. If I’d had a bit more left, maybe I could have stayed with the others longer, maybe helped Demi a bit or even sprint for a podium myself," said Pieterse

"I didn’t completely sacrifice my own chances, but you know that if you do the lead-out, certainly on the flatter part of the climb, it costs a lot of energy. I think that the women with the most endurance stood on the podium today, and for me it was still a bit too hard."

By the time she reached the finish, Pieterse wasn't completely exhausted, though, still able to execute a few wheelies to entertain the Montreal crowds on the finishing straight, before joining up with an emotional, elated Vollering, and celebrating huge success for the Dutch.

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