Pieterse experiences "all puzzle pieces falling into place" in Gavere and jokes: "I think the beers made the difference"

Puck Pieterse is back! With a primal scream, she crossed the finish line as the winner in the World Cup in Gavere. The hitherto unbeatable Fem van Empel couldn't keep up and had to settle for second place. "I think the beers made the difference," Pieterse jokes with IDLProCycling.com after the race.

Actually, Pieterse didn't even have super legs. "During the running, I really felt that I was struggling. I found it very difficult to maintain a constant pace there. Fortunately, other sections suited me better. That way, I could always make a difference after the climbs. I'm very good at pushing through after a climb, and I was able to use that to my advantage here. I'm very happy that I managed to win here, in front of such a large audience. That's amazing."

Pieterse battles Van Empel without knowing time differences: "Couldn't understand the announcer"

The crowd also made it difficult for the winner to know what her lead was. "Normally, you can understand the announcer in a cyclo-cross race, but that was really impossible here! So for a long time, I didn't know what my lead over Fem was in the last few rounds. Fortunately, you could take a quick look at the gap at the materials post. I made eager use of that, and in the last round, I realized that it would be fine as long as I didn’t make any mistakes."

Pieterse remained flawless in the final lap, after having closely inspected the mud in the opening phase. "Indeed, I fell twice, but fortunately, I didn’t panic and my bike remained intact. Those falls ultimately didn’t make a big difference, thankfully." The winning streak of Van Empel had lasted eleven crosses by then, but Pieterse managed to "finally" put an end to it. "Everyone wanted to do it and someone had to really do it. It's of course unfortunate for Fem, but it's great for me. Beforehand, I thought I would be good during the Christmas period and it's good that this is the case now, otherwise there would be some doubts."

Did the beers make the difference? "I think so"

The next races on Pieterse's schedule are Diegem (December 28) and Hulst (December 30). After that, we will see her in action again in Zonhoven (January 7). "Actually, I didn't do anything special in training to suddenly make everything fall into place. Of course, it's the holidays now, that might help. Now my full focus is on cyclo-cross. Oh, and of course, the coffee stops and the pints of beer! I think those made the difference," Pieterse jokes after the finish.

A chug from Puck Pieterse after the World Cup in Namen. Article continues below the video.

Pieterse "didn't have a great day": "Yet all the puzzle pieces fell into place"

After enthusiastic chugs, hard training and a lot of patience, all the puzzle pieces fell into place for the Dutch champion in Gavere. "I noticed in the last races that things were getting better. I was finally able to push through for an entire race, and that was the case again today. In the end, I had a good day, not a great day. But when others then have a lesser day, everything falls into place."

Speaking of falling into place, Puck's glasses! She was struggling with her glasses for a while. "I wanted to get rid of them. They kept fogging up while running. However, I once threw away glasses before and never saw them again, I didn't want that to happen again. So, I waited until the material post where my team was and then made a nice throw. If all is well, my dad has my glasses now," the jovial twenty-something concludes.