Puck Pieterse wins U23 women's title at European Cyclo-cross Championships

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Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) came out on top at the U23 women's race at the UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships on Sunday afternoon, soloing to the title by 50 seconds in Namur.

20-year-old Pieterse won the title she took two years ago ahead of France's Line Burquier, while 2021 champion Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands) took third place at 1:27 down.

Pieterse is already the reigning U23 world champion, having beaten Van Anrooij to the rainbow stripes in Fayetteville back in January. She went solo on the first lap of the race after making an early move along with Zoe Backstedt (Great Britain) and Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg).

At the end of the first lap of the race, Pieterse was already in a commanding position at 20 seconds up on her rivals. No other riders would manage to make it back to her for the remainder of the race, though the battle for silver and bronze was more fierce.

Partway through the race, Schreiber went on the offensive and was joined by both Burquier and Van Anrooij. However, at the halfway mark the Luxembourger dropped back from the trio, leaving eventual podium finishers to battle it out.

In the end, it was Burquier who proved the strongest behind Pieterse, the Frenchwoman able to drop Van Anrooij and take her first podium of the season, a year from finishing fourth at the European Championships at the Col du Vam.

Up ahead, Pieterse was long gone and could afford to celebrate what was a comfortable victory. She wheelied over the line with one hand, almost a minute up on her competitors.

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