Puck Pieterse (Fenix–Deceuninck) finished second at the UCI World Cup round in Dendermonde on Sunday, executing a measured race to finish 11 seconds behind winner Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions).
On a dry and fast course in Dendermonde, Brand claimed her 11th consecutive victory in 51:06 after riding solo for roughly half an hour. Pieterse stopped the clock at 51:17, with Amandine Fouquenet completing the podium at 51:29.
Pieterse’s result came despite a compromised start, as she was boxed in during the opening straight and forced into an early chase.
"My start was not super, I got boxed in a bit and that made me lose quite some time," Pieterse said after the finish. "In the second or third lap when I was about to make the gap to the leaders, Lucinda looked back and she went for it unfortunately."
By the second lap Pieterse had fought through traffic and briefly cut Brand’s lead to around five seconds, setting one of her fastest laps of the day in 5:33. Brand responded immediately, lifting the pace and re‑establishing a double‑digit advantage that would prove decisive on such a high‑speed circuit.
"On this loop five seconds is a big gap," Pieterse said. "At one point Lucinda had like 12 seconds, then I just decided to ride for second place."
"When you're watching you think: why doesn't she sprint? But 12 seconds on such a race course is so much," she said. "I just decided to play it for second."
With the gap to Brand growing, Pieterse began working with the riders behind. She allowed Fouquenet to return, sitting behind the French rider to benefit from her lines through Dendermonde’s succession of fast corners.
"I had a better first half and then Amandine came back and I could watch some lines of her and made advantage of that," Pieterse explained.
The pair recorded identical times on the penultimate lap before Pieterse attacked on the final circuit, distancing Fouquenet to secure a clear second place. Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix–Deceuninck) followed in fourth at 35 seconds.
The performance continues Pieterse’s mid‑season uplift in form and places her as the closest challenger to Brand as the World Cup heads into its final phase.
Cover image credit: Javier Martínez de la Puente/Zubiko Photography (2024)
