Riejanne Markus crowns herself as Dutch road champion | cycling

Before the race, the emotions were already clearly visible with Chantal van den Broek-Blaak and Demi Vollering, teammates of the unfortunate Pieters. It was also announced before the start that a crowdfunding campaign has been set up for Pieters, which will benefit the costs of her rehabilitation.

Soet and Van Alphen

The course in Drenthe consisted of eight laps for the riders, totaling 124.5 kilometers. After two rounds around the VAM mountain, no one had managed to make a gap, the first to try were Aafke Soet (Jumbo-Visma) and Aniek van Alphen of Plantur Pura. However, both women were caught by the peloton after not too long.

Halfway through the race, both Lucinda Brand and Ellen van Dijk once attempted to escape, while Riejanne Markus also showed himself from the front. The latter was retrieved by Shirin van Anrooij during her attempt.

A radiant Riejanne Markus gets a hug from teammate Marianne Vos.

ANP/HH

After the women had passed the passage on the VAM mountain for the sixth time, Marianne Vos ran away. The Jumbo-Visma rider made a gap of about 45 seconds, while Van den Broek-Blaak, Vollering and Lorena Wiebes calculated what to do in the chase group. Ultimately it was Ellen van Dijk and Van Anrooij who managed to track down Vos with their pinpricks.

With just under twenty kilometers to go, Maria Apolonia van ‘t Faith and Lonneke Uneken attacked together, immediately followed by Van Dijk. Brand and Vollering followed the trio and at twelve kilometers from the finish there was a fusion again. Van Anrooij and Markus then opened the throttle together and towards the last kilometers they took a small twenty seconds lead. In the last kilometre, during the last climb on the VAM mountain, the chasing group came up, but the leading duo did not let themselves be caught up. Markus eventually showed himself the fastest.

“The announcement of the crowdfunding campaign for Amy Pieters at the start was an emotional moment, but then the switch had to be turned,” Markus told the newspaper. NOS† “I think a lot about Pieters. Hopefully she’s proud of me.”

Markus didn’t do much in the last kilometers. “That was because I still had Marianne behind me”, she referred to the four-time national champion who drove alone for twenty kilometers in the lead. “Luckily I was able to finish it.”