Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) showcased her Olympic Cross Country form only weeks ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris with a 2:37 winning margin over Candice Lill (South Africa) at the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Les Gets.
Pieterse broke away from the first lap, having come second to Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) in the short track race on Friday, to ride solo all the way to the finish ahead of Lill in second place and Keller in third at a margin of 3:07.
“I'm just super happy,” Pieterse said immediately following the race finish. “On Friday [at the short track event], I already felt that so good legs but maybe I didn't take the smartest tactic.
“Now I know if I have good legs, that I can do it from the start, and I just tried to go full gas from the start and luckily it worked out," she continued.
“We had a really good training camp with the team and I'm just happy to show my good form here.”
Speaking about her early attack and race tactic, she said, “I knew it was a climber course so I just tried to push every climb to my fullest and then take a bit less risks in descents.
“On the last lap I got a bit tired and made some mistakes, but luckily I had a big enough gap.
The win marks Pieterse’s fourth mountain bike win of the season, having won the CC Europe XCO, and the XCC at the World Cup in Val di Sole and Crans-Montana.
Results
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Tour of Flanders Women: Demi Vollering sails to victory with solo attack on Oude Kwaremont
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot out-sprints Puck Pieterse for second -
'I was just not strong enough' – Pauline Ferrand-Prévot bettered by Demi Vollering's Kwaremont power to finish second in Tour of Flanders again
Door semi-open to Frenchwoman racing Paris-Roubaix next week in absence of Marianne Vos -
As it happened: Winning record equalled at Tour of Flanders 2026
Tadej Pogačar took the win ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and debutant Remco Evenepoel. -
As it happened: The race is made with the Oude Kwaremont producing the winner of the Tour of Flanders Women
A solo move after 164km packed full of cobbles and climbs on the menu in Belgium's biggest day.
