Strade Bianche tasted like more: Puck Pieterse may continue road racing for extra month in the spring

Puck Pieterse intends to extend her road racing season a bit in the spring. The 21-year-old cyclist for Fenix-Deceuninck will primarily focus on mountain biking in 2024, with the Olympics as her ultimate goal. However, in the month of March, she still has some time to get a taste of the classics.

In 2023, in terms of road racing, Pieterse only participated in Omloop Het Hageland and Strade Bianche. These races came after a long cyclo-cross season and before a period of rest leading up to mountain biking. She told IDLProCycling.com that her schedule will be slightly different now. "After the World Cyclo-cross Championships (February 3rd in Tabor, ed.), I will go on a winter sports trip and then I will fly to Spain for a high-altitude training camp with the team. After that, I will join the road team and compete in a few spring races."

When asked which races we can expect to see Pieterse in, she has no answer yet. "We don't know yet. We'll assess things up to and including Strade Bianche, and then it will depend on how fit I still am, to determine if we add any more races. Otherwise, we'll stick with that. If I have the energy, I might continue for another month, depending on how I feel."

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Puck Pieterse happy to go to Spain for a while

Last season, Pieterse surprised everyone by finishing fifth in her first Strade Bianche. Especially considering that she doesn't have a lot of road experience. She only once participated in the National Championships for juniors in 2019, and in the following years, she focused on cyclo-cross and mountain biking. Pieterse has never been shy about the fact that she is happiest in off-road cycling. It is no coincidence then that in 2023, she participated in two road races that included sections on unpaved roads.

However, she also wants to explore what she can achieve on the road in the long run. At Fenix-Deceuninck, she has plenty of opportunities to do so, with a road team at her disposal. It will be a journey of exploration for her because Pieterse admits that she hasn't done many road training camps herself. "For example, this winter, I haven't been to Spain yet, but I'm looking forward to it," she says, referring to a training camp in Spain, where she will still tackle the cyclo-cross in Benidorm. "Last week, we had nothing but rain here in the Netherlands for a whole week. It can be tough to keep cycling in those conditions. Sometimes, halfway through the training, you go back home, change into clean clothes, and then go out again. It's better to be in Spain. I always enjoy it, even though I don't go there very often."