26.03.2023 World-Tour, News, Race news
MAIKE POWERS TO ANOTHER WORLD TOUR PODIUM AT GENT WEVELGEM
Maike van der Duin sprinted to another World Tour podium when she powered to third place at Gent-Wevelgem today in Belgium. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider was in the peloton that could sprint for the podium places after dramatically catching the first chase group with less than 400m to go. In third place, Van der Duin retains her lead in the Women’s World Tour youth classification.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The peloton raced in wet conditions for the entire 155km race from Ypres to Wevelgem. An early solo breakaway was given close to two minutes but was caught before the race hit the De Moeren. The race ebbed and flowed as small groups went clear and quickly came back as it hit the seven climbs after close to 100km of racing. Marlen Reusser (SDW) went clear with 40km to go on the second passage of the Baneberg climb and was not caught again to take the race win. Behind, the race situation was more intense. Shari Bossuyt was the main force for creating an echelon to split the reduced-size peloton with around 25km to go. From that, Bossuyt created a breakaway of nine riders after she countered an attack from her teammate Kasia Niewiadoma. While the chase group played cat and mouse in the final kilometres, the peloton that included Van der Duin, Niewiadoma, (Elise) Chabbey and (Tiffany) Cromwell closed in. The peloton overtook Bossuyt’s group in the final metres. She sprinted to tenth place while Van der Duin powered to her second World Tour podium in the space of two weeks.
RIDER REACTION
Van der Duin says, “I’m so happy. It was a tough race, and the final sprint was long, but I kept pushing to give everything that I had. The bike throw at the line was needed to get this third place! We had confidence in Shari ahead of our group; honestly, I didn’t think we would catch them. Kasia positioned me well at the front, and then when I saw it was coming back with 500m to go, I knew I had to go for it. We were unlucky with the crashes today but always regrouped as a team. My second World Tour podium feels pretty good!”
#TAKETHELEAD
