Seeing riders from Canyon-SRAM and Visma-Lease a Bike on the prime of the outcomes sheet of the opening time trial of the Simac Girls Tour wasn’t a shock – however as a substitute of the names of Chloé Dygert and Riejanne Markus, it was Zoe Bäckstedt and Lieke Nooijen who had been quickest in opposition to the clock. Whereas 20-year-old Bäckstedt may rejoice her first professional victory, 23-year-old Nooijen was completely happy to substantiate her time trial expertise.
“A time trial on the primary day is all the time a bit tense, however I am tremendous pleased with the way it went. In fact, seven seconds is a giant hole on a 10-kilometre distance. The legs have spoken and Zoe is the deserved winner. I gave every little thing and am pleased with second place,” mentioned Nooijen.
There aren’t that many time trials on the ladies’s calendar, particularly within the Ladies’s WorldTour. In March, Nooijen was third on stage 1 of the Tour de Normandie, behind Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and her teammate Markus. On the Dutch ITT championships, Nooijen was once more overwhelmed by Markus whereas Van Dijk was out with an damage.
The 23-year-old then completed fourth within the opening ITT of the Giro d’Italia Ladies earlier than successful the opening TTT, a dash stage and the closing ITT of the Polish 2.2 race Princess Anna Vasa Tour, lastly beating Markus in opposition to the clock. Within the Simac Girls Tour, Nooijen obtained the higher of each Markus and Van Dijk, beating the latter by simply 0.16 seconds. After her robust ITT efficiency, Wednesday’s stage 2 shall be particular for Nooijen because it begins in her hometown Coevorden.
“I am actually wanting ahead to that. The phases on this race are lengthy, and I anticipate the wind to play a task. We got here right here with three good classification riders, so we’ll see the way it goes,” Nooijen promised a three-pronged crew technique for the remainder of the race that consists of primarily flat phases, a few of which pose the hazard of echelons.
Missing a powerful sprinter, Visma-Lease a Bike might be anticipated to attempt to tear the race aside. In a powerful crew efficiency on stage 1, Anna Henderson completed sixth, 24 seconds down on Bäckstedt, with Markus simply behind in seventh place an extra 5 seconds behind.
