Puck Pieterse closed her already spectacular 2024 road season by conquering the UCI World Championships U23 title, adding another rainbow jersey to her incredible palmares. She finished 13th the 154.1 km-long Elite road race, her first with the National Dutch team.
“Road is nice. I like races like today that are always full gas. I like to see how far I can go,” Puck said. Her victory in Zurich came amid intense weather conditions. “It was really cold, especially every time we went into the longer descents. I was shivering and shaking by the last two laps. You don’t want to go any faster because your legs are gone. But you also want to ride faster because it is so cold that you want to warm up. But there was no warming up with this rain.”
This new U23 title comes a month after 22-year-old rider won the UCI MTB World Championships cross country race. It is also a highlight of her road season, which was marked by a stage win and the youth leader jersey at the Tour de France and two podiums in the Spring Classics.
