Having spent the majority of her season racing on the mountain bike with a focus on the Olympic Games in Paris, Puck Pieterse’s last race on the road had been the Tour of Flanders in April before she lined up at the start of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Rotterdam on Monday.
Pieterse’s Olympic campaign ended in heartbreak following a flat tyre whilst in silver medal position. The Dutch rider eventually placed fourth, left to rue the time she lost whilst waiting for a wheel change and the medal that could have been, but shortly after the race she announced her participation in her first road stage race, the Tour de France Femmes.
In a video on her YouTube channel shared before the Tour started, Pieterse played up to her role as a rookie roadie, joking around with her teammates about riding a time trial bike for the first time. “First time on a moving time trial bike,” she declared, asking viewers to rate her aero position and joking: “I also learned: don’t drink during a 6 km time trial.”
Three days later, however, and the 22-year-old has become a Tour de France stage winner, having beaten defending champion Demi Vollering in a sprint, taking the polka-dot jersey along the way.
“I never had a sprint against Demi actually so I didn’t know how that would go,” Pieterse said. “I was feeling quite good in the final and I just tried to play poker a bit when Kasia attacked. I knew I would probably have a better sprint than her but for Demi I didn’t know at all so I just went with my gut and tried to leave it all out there.”
Pieterse credits her form from the mountain bike for her speed on the road and is part of a new generation of women who are successfully combining the disciplines, with Olympic Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot also due to race on the road from 2025 with Visma-Lease a Bike.
“I maybe don’t have a sprinter’s body but on the mountain bike you have to be quite explosive and we have some sprint finishes there as well, especially in the short track,” Pieterse explained.
Many riders who focus on off-road disciplines are expected to put that on hold once they turn their attention towards road racing, however Pieterse insists that she is able to balance both road and mountain biking (something that riders like Tom Pidcock of the Ineos Grenadiers and Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck have done over the years on the men's side of the sport.)
“For now I don’t have to make a choice because this week fits perfectly in the racing block I have with the build up to Olympics, Olympics, now this, and then two weeks after we finish it is the mountain bike Worlds,” she said. “So I think it shows you don’t actually have to make a choice. I think it can perfectly fit together, the mountain bike and the road.”
It is a point that Pieterse has emphatically hit home after today’s stage and one that Ferrand-Prevot is also hoping to prove in 2025. After taking victory at her home Olympics the French rider told the press: “I want to prepare for the Tour de France Femmes and try to win the Tour next year.”
Ferrand-Prevot has every right to be ambitious, having already succeeded in taking world titles in road, cyclocross, and mountain bike in the same season. She will only race road after this year, but Pieterse’s win illustrates how the tough and technical world of mountain biking can prepare a rider for a challenge like the Tour de France.
“I think it also shows how high the level of the mountain bike is. I am also here to represent that a bit and I hope next year Pauline will do that as well and I look forward to battles with her on the road as well,” Pieterse said.
One of the best things about the likes of Pieterse becoming a player in the Women’s WorldTour peloton is the light-hearted element she brings to the road scene. She’s proof that performing on the highest level doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the things you love most about the sport, and she’s keen to bring others in on the journey with her.
“I was with Puck in the same hotel in Paris and she was often sitting next to me at breakfast and dinner. We had nice chats and she was trying to lure me into cyclocross, so I’m invited this winter for training with Puck and Fem [Van Empel],” yellow jersey wearer Demi Vollering laughed after the race. “I hope I can do it with them, I’m looking forward to it. They will be a lot better than me but it will be a lot of fun. You can have a lot of fun with Puck.”
