Is Mackaij Movistar's new leading lady after Van Vleuten's quits? "The Tour of Flanders gives me goosebumps"

"I had a pretty bad fall in Spain at the beginning of February," she starts her story at the market square in Deinze. "I bruised my ribs in that fall, which was far from a perfect season start. But after some training in Spain, I think I've managed to catch up. So, I'm really looking forward to the classics I'll be participating in."

We detect a lot of ambition in Mackaij, who won Gent-Wevelgem back in 2015. She aims to be at her best in the classics also in 2024. "My preseason went a bit differently than I'd hoped because of my fall. But I definitely want to perform well during this period."

The runner-up of the 2019 Liège-Bastogne-Liège then explains that she sometimes finds it challenging to assert herself in the classics and take on the lead role. "It would be great if our team had multiple cards to play with so we could really animate the finals."

Animating the finals will have to be done without Annemiek van Vleuten. The Dutch superstar made a significant impact on behalf of Eusebio Unzué's team but retired at the end of last year. What does that retirement mean for Mackaij? "Not much changes, really. Of course, you approach the grand tours differently. With Annemiek, we had someone who always had a big chance of winning the overall classification. That's a big difference this year. But apart from that, it's pretty much the same. We'll see how it goes."

Mackaij, who moved from the then Team DSM (now dsm-firmenich PostNL) at the end of 2022, enjoys racing in a Southern European-themed team. "Being a Dutch rider in a Spanish team is quite different, as I discovered last year. But Movistar is a very international team. I personally like the Spanish mentality, which is subtly present."

When finally asked about her favorite classic, she doesn't hesitate for a second. "The Tour of Flanders. That's an easy question for me. It gives me goosebumps. I don't know if it's because it's cold, or it's just the name of the race." The ever-charming lady from Woerden couldn't have ended the interview on a better note.