Puck Pieterse makes an immediate impact on her return to mountain biking with win in Nove Město

Puck Pieterse has made an immediate mark on her return to mountain biking. The Dutch champion struck in the Short Track (XCC) race at the MTB World Cup in Nové Město. After making up significant ground from a poor starting position, she demonstrated her strength before winning the sprint with ease.

While most road riders are currently in the thick of their road season, the mountain bike season kicked off this weekend. The prestigious Nové Město round opened the year, and Pieterse had already announced she would step away from road racing for a while, making the trip to Czech Republic to compete. Top names such as Jenny Rissveds and Jolanda Neff were also in the field.

Rissveds — the reigning European champion — made an excellent start in the Short Track race and took the lead early. Pieterse, starting further back as Dutch champion, had to fight her way through the field. The course was fast, making it difficult to move through the bunch as the leaders strung out the field. After one lap she was around twentieth.

She then began to move. Pieterse worked steadily towards the top ten and by the second lap had already worked her way close to the front. When a brief lull appeared, she took her moment to lead for the first time. World Short Track champion Alessandra Keller had also moved to the front.

It was clear Pieterse was feeling strong. Each time she went to the front, small gaps began to open in the lead group. No decisive splits formed, however. A crash in the penultimate lap involving Neff and Keller removed two rivals from contention.

In the final lap, Pieterse again pushed to ride clear. European champion Rissveds dropped a wheel but managed to hold on, along with around ten other riders. Rissveds then came through to open the sprint early, before Nicole Koller launched her effort. Pieterse timed her response perfectly and won the sprint with controlled ease.

Britain's Evie Richards, the reigning XCC women's British champion, came home in 4th, just behind the podium finishers.

A perfect return for Pieterse. "I've missed this," she laughed in her flash interview afterwards. "I skipped South Korea, which meant I couldn't start near the front. That can make things slow. But Jenny Rissveds set a very hard pace, so it took a while before I could get to the front. I tried to keep control after that ahead of the final sprint."

And in that sprint she was supreme. "I saw Nicole coming from the left, and at that point I thought: now I have to go, or she'll surprise me. So I did." Sunday brings the cross-country race. "Last year I also had a good day on Sunday but had a puncture. The goal is to keep the equipment in one piece. From there we'll see how an effort of an hour and a half compares to twenty minutes."