The seven elite women the Netherlands lined up at the World Championships in Montreal all travel on to Slovenia. Vollering will have Riejanne Markus, Lieke Nooijen, Puck Pieterse, Karlijn Swinkels, Femke de Vries and Amber Kraak around her. Wiebes is added for the road race.
The national coach described the course. “This race asks something different of us again. The course looks a lot like an Ardennes classic, with a long run-in before the steep climbs become decisive,” he said to WielerFlits.
In a van in Mouscron, “Ardennes classic” is not an atmosphere, it’s a part. It’s the small sprocket, the chain that has to shift under load without hesitating, the derailleur hanger you look at twice. A long run-in means a long stretch where nothing moves, then steep climbs where everything hangs on a gear change that takes half a second too long.
They say the race asks something different. Fine. What I hear is a cassette swapped on the Thursday and a new cable nobody had time to tension. The steep climbs aren’t decisive: the last sprocket is decisive, and it always has been. And at what pressure, on roads you don’t know, mind you?
The coach explained the presence of Wiebes, whose qualities don’t match the course: “Lorena wants to contribute to the team here and put herself at the service of the common goal,” he said to WielerFlits. Riding in service, in the workshop, has a name: she’s the one on the front through the long run-in, and she needs a clean drivetrain to do it.
Vollering will also ride the time trial, as will Nooijen, who did the same in Montreal. Two disciplines, two bikes, two pressures.
Two bikes per rider means twice everything. I’ll go and pump up the club’s, then, that’ll sort my head out.
It’s true, we checked: WielerFlits.
