De Vries sixth at Dutch National Road Race Championships
Femke de Vries finished sixth at the Dutch National Road Race Championships. The 30-year-old rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike was in the decisive breakaway together with teammate Sophie von Berswordt, but had to acknowledge her superiority to Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, who crossed the line solo.
The intentions of Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women were clear from the start. The yellow-black brigade, consisting of 11 riders, took control early on and tried to make the race as hard as possible. Although the five 'Posbank laps' did not provide the desired result, a group of 14 managed to create a gap on the final circuit.
De Vries and Von Berswordt were part of this group on behalf of Team Visma | Lease a Bike and quickly gained a minute on the peloton. Van den Broek-Blaak and Yara Kastelijn proved to be the strongest of the leading group and battled for the title. That eventually went to Van den Broek-Blaak. In the group behind, De Vries sprinted to sixth place.
"From the start we tried to make the race hard, although it was quite difficult to keep attacking all the time."
"It was a super tough race," the Dutchwoman said. "From the start we tried to make the race hard, although it was quite difficult to keep attacking all the time. A lot was happening and it was very unpredictable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it very much. It really felt like a game and I think that's the most fun part of cycling."
Riejanne Markus described the Nationals as a tough and tactical race. According to the brand-new Dutch time trial champion, the size of the group meant that they had to gamble continuously. "There was a lot of jumping and then you have to play the game, especially when you ride with such a big group. It unfortunately didn't work out today, but it could just as easily have been the other way around."
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