Gunnewijk and Dutch team face criticism over World Championships race: "Maybe Vollering wanted it too badly"

The comments following the women's elite World Championships road race on Saturday were not kind. The farewell race of Loes Gunnewijk as coach ended in a fiasco, with Demi Vollering’s fifth place being the best result for the Dutch teamm. The national coach didn’t immediately have a clear explanation for what went wrong in the rain-soaked race.

"It was a war of attrition," Gunnewijk summarized after the team debriefing. What conclusions could the team leader draw afterward? "That there were certain points where things were difficult and could have gone better," she remarked. "In the finale, we wanted to apply pressure and keep the race tough. We did that, but maybe we should have done it a bit earlier. Up until the final climb, we had the race under control."

There were no harsh words exchanged. "We agreed to talk honestly with each other but with respect. Everyone is disappointed and wanted the best result. Things could have been done differently, but hindsight is 20/20. If we could do it again, maybe we would have made slightly different decisions. We were very strong, but we came here for something else. That’s the disappointing part."

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Gunnewijk: "Maybe Vollering wanted to win too badly"

"Where exactly did we lose the race? I can’t immediately say," said Gunnewijk. "We should have relied more on our own strength earlier. We had several contenders, but hindsight is 20/20. If you have one leader and lose, you wish you had more options. But if you have multiple leaders and things don’t go well, then you wish you had just one. That’s racing — anything can happen."

For Gunnewijk, the lack of race radios didn’t help. "If we had radios, we could have provided them with information, but that’s difficult. It’s also hard for the riders to assess the situation from the bike. Decisions were made on the road, and I can’t intervene from the car," she said. "With the knowledge that we have now, maybe Vollering should have waited. She was very strong, but maybe she wanted to win too badly."

The fact that her time as national coach is now over, that stings a little. "We came here with a different goal, and it wasn’t achieved, which is a shame." The fact that Puck Pieterse did win a rainbow jersey in the U23 category was only a "small consolation" for the coach in Zürich.