Puck Pieterse is no longer on the Netherlands start list for the elite women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali. Pieterse had been named on a seven-rider Dutch roster that included Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering. She withdrew to concentrate solely on defending her elite women's cross-country (XCO) mountain bike world title on September 13 in Crans-Montana. National team coach Laurens ten Dam said the combined schedule became too much and the removal was decided in consultation. Riejanne Markus replaces Pieterse on the Dutch road-race roster.
Pieterse, who turned 24 in May, was confirmed two weeks ago to be part of a star-studded seven-rider Dutch roster that includes three-time road race champion Marianne Vos and two-time road race champion Anna van der Breggen, as well as Demi Vollering, who had silver medals from past Worlds in both the road race and time trial. The reigning women's U23 road world champion will now solely focus on defending her mountain bike world title in the elite women's cross-country event,
"With the Mountain Bike World Championships and everything else Puck has coming up in the near future, it became a bit much. It was decided in consultation to remove this World Championship from the program," Laurens ten Dam, women's national team coach, told Dutch media on Thursday, first reported by NOS. "Of course I'm disappointed, but ultimately, I'll still need Puck in the coming years."
#puck-pieterse #mountain-bike-world-championships #uci-road-world-championships #dutch-national-team
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