One-day racing in Belgium returned for our Women’s program as they took on the first day of their “Opening Weekend” at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this Saturday. It was a relatively steady and controlled race to begin with, as a breakaway managed to build up a large lead that peaked at over seven minutes. With all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton, focus remained on conserving energy and looking after each other for what was to come. As the final 40 kilometres approached, the pace in the bunch increased but so did the nervousness and as a result there were multiple crashes; which unfortunately saw the team involved in all of them – although thankfully there were no heavy hits. Nonetheless, being held up just before the important Haaghoek and Berendries combination meant a big chase from the team to bring finisher Pfeiffer Georgi back to the group. Georgi then was able to dig deep and follow the eventual race winning group which went over the Berendries, but on one of the next climbs she unfortunately had to let go of the wheels. Returning to the main peloton, she waited it out for the sprint where she showed a good turn of speed to take 13th place at the finish.
Georgi expressed: “The team did an amazing job in positioning in the first part of the race and we were well represented, but unfortunately got caught up in the crash on Haaghoek and had to use a lot of energy to come back to the front group. In the end this effort ended up being too much with the attacks afterwards, so were only able to go for a top ten place after this. I’m definitely disappointed but I think we showed some really positive things as a team and are motivated for the rest of the classics.”