Alongside Ferrand-Prévot, another former MTB rider impresses for Visma | LaB in Roubaix: "At a certain point, I had nothing left"

Von Berswordt, 28 years old, is in just her second year as a WorldTour pro with Visma | Lease a Bike. In 2018, she finished sixth at the Mountain Bike World Championships but narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. That moment got her thinking. “I started to wonder what else the cycling world had to offer. So when I got the chance to race on the road now and then with the Watersley R&D Road Team, I grabbed it with both hands,” she said when her transfer was announced.

Barely a year and a half later, she already has two top-20 finishes in Paris-Roubaix. Last season, she placed 14th, this time, 17th. But her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s victory made the day even sweeter, as a beaming Von Berswordt confirmed afterward: “I’m happy. It’s so cool to win like this as a team.”

So what was her role in the Hell of the North? “Personally, I didn’t have much left to give. I tried to keep the gap to Emma Norsgaard as small as possible. Then Pauline attacked, and my job was done, which was also nice. After that, I couldn’t really do much for Marianne either,” she said, catching her breath before heading to celebrate her teammate’s victory. “Roubaix is just such a hard race to keep playing the tactical game.”

That Ferrand-Prévot, a former mountain bike star, could contend for the win at Paris-Roubaix didn’t surprise Von Berswordt. “We saw that Pauline was really strong on the cobbles, but this morning she wasn’t feeling well. So I didn’t expect it then, but during the race, I could tell she was riding really well. You just feel that kind of thing,” said the rider from Alkmaar.

Von Berswordt also benefited from the Gravaa tire pressure system, thanks to her MTB background. “It definitely helps. You can save a lot of energy and choose the right line, but during the race you still need to be strong, pedal hard, and have a bit of luck too. And when you win, you're always right. That shows it works,” she concluded.