Poker face went for Pieterse over fresh friendship with Vollering: "Cycling in the winter with Puck and Fem"

"It’s actually unbelievable," began a thrilled Pieterse — still only 22 years old — in the flash interview. "Yeah, I don’t know: the last two days I had super good legs, and today I didn’t feel my legs at all. It remains special. It’s amazing to be able to win the sprint against Demi here. It’s really a dream come true."

After a grueling final in the rain, Pieterse ended up with Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma. With two renowned general classification riders, the winner took full advantage. "I knew they were racing for the overall classification. I was mainly here for the stage. And I was fresh, so I could afford to play a bit of poker. I also knew that Kasia would attack and wouldn’t wait for the sprint. Demi would have to follow. That’s why I tried to put on my poker face and then ask for the sprint."

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Vollering — who later mentioned at the press conference, including to IDLProCycling.com — did notice that Pieterse was playing a game, but she allowed it lovingly. "I knew she has a very good sprint and noticed in the last few kilometers that she was holding back just a tiny bit. I think she could have done a little more, but that’s understandable. She had every right to do that, with Kasia and me racing for the general classification. The wait for the result took quite a while after that. It was funny that I was standing next to Puck, which was nice. She is a really nice person; I like her a lot."

The yellow jersey holder nearly overtook her. It was a close call, perhaps because Pieterse started her effort just a bit too early. "I did start a bit early. But yes, I’ve never been here before and didn’t know the finish very well." After the podium ceremony, she explained to NOS how she had tried to 'recon' the final a bit in advance. "I had only seen it on Google StreetView. I knew beforehand that this stage suited me well. Since we reconned it, I found out how well it suits me. That’s why I just went all-in."

And those who go all-in sometimes win the pot. A big surprise for Pieterse, as it turns out. "Before I knew I had won... It really seemed to take an eternity. It’s super cool, though it still needs to sink in. I’ve already shown that I can ride on the road, but winning here feels like it came a bit out of nowhere. Considering the top favorites in the Tour…"

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Due to Pieterse’s victory, she has boldly climbed up the standings. She is now 22 seconds behind Vollering, who thus did not really regard her as a major rival at the press conference. But what isn’t the case yet might still come? "I’m very curious to see what she can do on longer climbs; maybe she’ll surprise us there. She has a lot of talent and still has so much to gain. She does sometimes stop too often for coffee and cake, though that’s also her strength. She enjoys it so much; I hope she doesn’t change that too much. Year after year, she will improve."

Vollering can say this because she regularly sat down with Pieterse during the Paris Olympics. There, the younger of the two narrowly missed out on a mountain bike medal due to sheer bad luck. "During the Olympics, I was in the same hotel as Puck, so we often sat next to each other during meals and had nice conversations. She tried to convince me to come cross-racing, so I hope to train with Puck and Fem in the winter. It’s going to be fun. After the mountain bike race, she was of course disappointed, so I gave her a hug and offered words of encouragement. You can see that sometimes great things come after a loss."

Pieterse confirmed that her buildup to the Games is now paying off. "Initially, I worked extremely hard towards the Olympics, and from there I was able to carry over good legs. If you have them there, you often have them here as well," said the newly crowned polka dot jersey wearer. In the mixed zone, she said: "I’ve never felt as strong as I did at the Games. I tried to hold on to that good feeling, and I’ve succeeded. The past few days have felt good already, so I’m super happy that it came out like this in this stage. What this says about my standings? I have no idea yet; actually, no one in our team or in the peloton knows. I don’t know how I perform on climbs of fifty minutes to an hour, since I trained for mountain biking on these kinds of Ardennes climbs, which are eight minutes long and then followed by some recovery."

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Pauline Rooijakkers refers to Pieterse as ‘a wildcard,’ now that she is in second place in the standings after four stages. The 31-year-old leader of Fenix-Deceuninck is in the Tour to compete for the overall classification herself, but she has already shown that this can also be done with Pieterse. "Puck gives it her all every day, so we had to temper her a bit in the first two days. It’s great to have her with us; she also motivates us as a group. Today, she just said on the bus that we were going to do it. We had to believe in ourselves, and we dream together like that. In the coming days, we will keep giving it our all, Puck-style. I’m going for the overall classification, but we need to see how Puck handles the long climbs. That will be new for her, so she’s a bit of a wildcard. We’ll have to test it out and see how we tackle the stages."

"This is her first Tour de France, with little experience on the road. If she wins a stage right away, that’s really fantastic for her," Rooijakkers further emphasized. Fem van Empel was also quick to congratulate Pieterse after the finish. The good cross-friend of Visma | Lease a Bike beamed: "I have a lot of respect for my competitors and especially for Puck. She missed a medal at the Games due to bad luck, and she’s still mustering up all her courage to give it her all here. She was first up the Redoute, and I think she split the peloton there. Super strong and compliments, very impressive."

It’s no secret that Pieterse and Van Empel like each other. According to Van Empel, this is not surprising at all. ‘We treat each other with a lot of respect. In the race, we’re competitors, but I don’t see why we can’t say hello outside of it. We’re both just normal people, and I’m not surprised that she’s performing so well here. She’s been doing well for a while now.’

That Pieterse and Van Empel like each other is no secret. According to Van Empel, that is not at all surprising. "We treat each other with great respect. In the race we are competitors, but I don't see why you can't say hello outside of it. We are both just normal and it doesn't surprise me that she is here zorondriving. She had been in good spirits for a while."