Van Dijk outspoken about Uzbek team and impressed with Pieterse: "As if it all goes automatically"

Puck Pieterse rocked the women's peloton on Wednesday. The Amersfoort-born talent rode to the finish line with Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma and beat the previous Tour de France Femmes winner in the sprint. It is a particularly clever performance that people can't stop talking about. Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), who finished 9.38 minutes behind Pieterse on Wednesday, spoke at In Het Wiel admiring "Puck."

"No, I don't know her well," van Dijk opened. "It seems like she does everything playfully, and it all comes automatically to her, but I just checked with Shirin van Anrooij. She said that she does work very hard. I think she can give a little impression that it all goes by itself, but she also works very hard for it."

In any case, the 37-year-old hard rider is very impressed with Pieterse. "This is special. How many road races has she completed? To win a Tour stage like this is cool. She has so much more potential because she is still discovering everything. Van Dijk does not know whether Pieterse can win the Tour in the future. Still, she sees Pieterse's coming years as bright. 'Who knows in the future? It's one to remember."

"Uzbek team, not Tour-worthy"

Van Dijk was also asked for her opinion on the Uzbek team Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team, which saw four riders drop out in the first stage. The team could count on much criticism from many people, and Van Dijk is also very critical. "That classification is incredibly unfair. That this can happen... Many other teams would be more suitable than a team where four riders drop out on the first day. That is not Tour-worthy, of course. The Dutch time trialist had seen it coming. 'It was already known that they did this last year. So it could have already been adjusted," she concluded by being critical of the UCI rules.