The Dutch put on a solo clinic from the beginning, securing her third World Cup win out of our rounds. Home favorite Martina Berta made the Italian fans shout with a career-high second place in the Tricolor jersey, with Australian National Champion Rebecca Henderson coming in third
No matter the season, Val di Sole seems to be Puck Pieterse’s feud. Six months after her memorable success in the Cyclocross World Cup round in Vermiglio, in the iconic snow race of Val di Sole, Pieterse delivered a similarly commanding performance in Daolasa di Commezzadura on July 2nd, to claim the third World Cup win in the season (out of four rounds) among Elite Women.
Anyway, the home fans also had plenty to cheer for, as it was Martina Berta who cross the line in second place, 52” down, delivering her career-best World Cup finish, saluted by the loud enthusiasm of thousands of fans in Trentino. It was Italy’s first top-3 finish in the Elite Women’s World Cup since April 27th, 2014, when Eva Lechner won in Cairns (Australia).
Third place for Australian champion Rebecca Henderson (1’00”), followed by Austrian Laura Stigger (1’06”) and Mona Mitterwallner (1’53”), two Olympic Champions like Swiss Jolanda Neff (2’01”) and Swede Jenny Rissveds (2’30”), and World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prèvot, eight place at 2’48”.
Pieterse (Alpecin-Deuceninck) took the lead from the start and never looked back. “I chose to ride aggressively since the beginning, and I was full gas already at the end of the first lap. Since then, I tried to go with my pace and don’t look back and well, it worked once again” – commented Pieterse.
“I made a mistake in the last lap, but I knew I had quite some gap. It happened on the toughest part of the race, where you are almost still because of the many roots on the course. In every lap I tried to keep my best focus, but my heart rate was so high that I couldn’t keep going. Since that moment I reset and started to push again on the first climb to get my pace back”, ended the Dutch champion.
In the second lap, a quartet including Ferrand-Prèvot, Berta, Keller and Stigger, later joined by Henderson, went to chase Pieterse. Martina Berta tried to up the pace and only Pauline Ferrand-Prèvot could keep up, with the duo slowly but steadily earning a few seconds on Pieterse: still not enough to get back on the leader.
In the fourth lap, Ferrand-Prèvot crashed heavily, falling behind Berta and the following chasing group. The Italian champion had to defend her second position from the charge of Henderson and Stigger in the fifth and last lap. On the finish line, it was Pieterse raising her arms once again, followed by the overwhelming joy of the Italian rider, eloquently saluted by the home fans.
“To get on the podium in Val di Sole, with the Tricolore Jersey, in front of such a crowd, is unbelievable”, said Berta on the finish line.
In the GC, Puck Pieterse keeps dominating with 1096 points, ahead of Ferrand-Prèvot (800) and Laura Stigger (680).
