Nienke Vinke climbs to second place for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL on final stage of Tour Down Under

At the famous Willunga Hill summit finish, Nienke Vinke rounded off a great first race for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL with an amazing second place. The young Dutch rider secured her first podium as a professional and marked the team’s first podium finish, representing Team dsm-firmenich PostNL in their new team colors.

Entering the queen stage of the Tour Down Under with Francesca Barale in seventh and Nienke in tenth place overall, the team had strong cards to play for the final showdown. The day turned out to be hectic, with echelons causing some chaos. But the team was looking well after each other and came through the stage in a good way. Leading into the decisive climb, the pace got really high and the fight for the best position was on. Francesca and Nienke came into Willunga Hill in a great position, after being positioned perfectly by their teammates. Due to the high pace, the group of favourites got small very fast and Nienke found herself in a group of three with only two kilometres to go. When Sarah Gigante attacked, Nienke found her rhythm, outpaced her last opponent, and secured the second-place finish. With that amazing effort, she not only finished second on the day but also in the overall classification and won the white jersey, which her teammate Francesca was wearing on today’s stage. The young group of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL showed a great race, finishing among the best six on every stage and bringing home both, a podium at a stage, in the general classification and the jersey for the best young rider.

After the stage, Vinke said: “I am surprised about the outcome of today. I got the chance to do the climb all out and go for a good result, but I didn’t expect to become second. My teammates kept me safe the whole day and they brought me in a good position for the climb, they really helped me a lot. It was really nervous in the bunch throughout the day, but they always kept me out of trouble and I was among the first five entering the climb, so that was perfect.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Luke Roberts added: “We had the final stage up Willunga Hill today. Francesca and Nienke both were in a really good position before the start of the stage, having done two good stages. Sitting seventh and tenth in GC we knew we had a really good chance today in the shape Nienke was in, if the climb was really fast, and if a group would come in, to stay together on the climb with Francesca as finisher would give us an opportunity. The girls did a great job looking after those two throughout the day and moved into a good position before the climb. When the attacks went quite early, Nienke did a good job of following them and showed she had the legs to be super competitive today. Fantastic ride from her to finish second on the stage, second overall and take the young riders classification. Big credits also to the girls for winning the prize for best team and being on the podium together.”