After Marianne Vos, our team has a second European champion. Riejanne Markus was crowned beachracing European champion on the beach in Scheveningen. “A fantastic success so close to the yearend.”

The amazing victory somewhat came as a surprise for Riejanne. “I had no real idea of what could be in store for me as I only did one beachrace this year. Also, I hadn’t particularly trained for it. I knew the track was too technical for me, but the length of the race (54 kilometres, red.) and the cold would work to my advantage”, she says.

“We raced in a large group during the first quarter of the race. When we got to the turning point, which was very tricky and technical, the group fell apart. Unfortunately I fell in the descent and lost some time because I couldn’t get my chain back on. Afterwards, I ended up in a small group and we could continue the pace.”

In the middle of the race, Riejanne started to catch up. “We could get closer because the cold and the length started to bear. We came back to place two in the race and after the final turning point, I raced with 2 others for the podium. We had Rozanne Slik into view and got closer but were not able to close the gap”, according to Riejanne.

“I was fourth at the final tough descent and clearly had the better legs and made the least mistakes. Firstly, I could surpass two from the small group. Rozanne experienced some difficulties in the loose sand which gave me an opportunity to close the gap and pass her. It was amazing to cross the finish line solo and to become European champion”, says our rider whose partner Jasper Ockeloen was successful at the men’s race.