24-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike racer Lieke Nooijen claimed the biggest victory of her career to date as she outpowered Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) in an excitingly unpredictable Dutch Nationals elite women’s road race.
Third was Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek), with Nooijen’s Visma teammate Mischa Bredewold and Femke de Vries (SD Worx-Protime) just off the podium in fourth and fifth.
“I know I am in good form, and to bring that out today… That is really wonderful,” Nooijen told Wielerflits after the finish, before praising her team’s collective work.
“Femke de Vries and I were in a good attack a few times, Marianne Vos joined in, and Maud Oudeman rode a super strong race,” she added.
“At one point, there were still five or six of us in the first group. That is really impressive, and in the end, I was the one who got away with Femke Markus . I am very happy that I was able to finish it off.”
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How it unfolded
The ultra-difficult Dutch course featured, just like in the remainder of the races, the two main climbs of Van Randwijckweg (1.2 km at 6.5%) and Oude Holleweg (1 km at 7%). Although Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) was not present, other top names like Lorena Wiebes and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), not to mention all-time great Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), all but ensured a very exciting race.
Perhaps given there was so much firepower in the race, for much of the opening part of the course, none of the multiple attacks managed to stick, with the big favourites content to watch and wait for an opportunity. Coming into the final 50 kilometres of a 117-kilometre course, the high pace and blizzard of little digs failing to succeed ensured that the peloton was far smaller than when it set out from Nijmegen midway through Sunday afternoon.
The first important move to actually get enough of a margin to become a break came when De Vries, Adegeest and Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) opened up a small gap, with De Vries and Adegeest pushing on when Vinke began to struggle. Eventually, the leading duo were caught but that only sparked yet more efforts, notably by the very active de Vries.
The move that eventually gained real traction for Visma came courtesy of Nooijen, taking off with Markus to push open their advantage to around a minute. Nooijen attempted to shake off her closest rival on the Van Randwijckweg, to no avail, and the two non-sprinters were forced to fight it out for gold on the line.
As Wielerflitsreported, the sprint began when Markus opened up hostilities a full 800 metres from the line, only to be caught by Nooijen, who in turn launched a very early acceleration. That long-distance move proved just enough to contain Markus and allow Nooijen to go two better than her already promising bronze medal in Wednesday’s time trial – and clinch the win.
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