NOS Cycling•today, 3:27 PM
Puck Pieterse became Dutch cyclo-cross champion for the second time in Oisterwijk. The 2023 champion, second last year behind Lucinda Brand, was supreme in the mud.
In a match without world champion Fem van Empel and three-time Dutch champion Brand, Pieterse took off in the first of five rounds. She slowly but surely drove further away from the rest and had a 1.11 lead over Ceylin Alvarado at the finish.
Alvarado, winner in 2020 and also second behind Pieterse in 2023, had pulled away from Marianne Vos (seven titles) in the third round, who lost the bronze to Denise Betsema in the final phase.