Alexis Ryan achieved her season goal of “winning a bike race”, when she out-sprinted Jolien D’hoore (MTS) and Chloe Hosking (ALE) today at Drentse Acht van Westerveld in Netherlands.

Ryan said the team had anticipated a sprint finish for the 141km race. “We were conserving energy the first 100km and were looking for either myself or Lisa Klein to sprint at the end. Lisa wasn’t feeling the best for the sprint but she shadowed me all day keeping me out of the wind and went with the final move on the last lap,” said Ryan after the race.

“My teammates were fantastic. Lisa was supportive all day. Trixi (Worrack) and Tiff (Cromwell) kept me in the front at the end. Tiff put in a monster 1km pull, it could have been even 1.5km. I was in awe! She swung off and I slid into the slipstream of Sunweb for a couple of hundred metres. With 200m to go I launched my sprint, slammed into a massive gear and muscled over the bumpy pave to the finish. I almost couldn’t believe I had won!” exclaimed Ryan.

After placing second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad two weeks ago, the 23 year-old American said she could not be happier with her start to the new season.

“I’m ecstatic. This is my first UCI win. I was so close at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. I could taste a win on my tongue. I wasn’t going to let this one get away from me,” admitted Ryan. “I have so much gratitude for my teammates today.”

Tomorrow in South Africa, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will fly the team colours at the first UCI MTB world cup of the season in Stellenbosch, watch it live here from 12:00 CET. While Alexis Ryan and her teammates Alice Barnes, Tiffany Cromwell, Lisa Klein, Christa Riffel and Trixi Worrack have a day to recover and prepare for Sunday’s UCI Women’s WorldTour, Ronde van Drenthe in Hoogeveen.

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