Marianne Vos took 5th place in the Ronde van Drenthe on Sunday afternoon. She tried to complete an excellent team performance of WaowDeals Pro Cycling in the sprint in the streets of Hoogeveen. Amy Pieters took the victory in this UCI Women’s WorldTour-race.

The women were faced in the well-over 157 kilometres long race from Emmen to Hoogeveen with 4 climbs of the VAMberg and 7 cobbled sectors. There were 9 on the original programme, but 2 sectors were cancelled by the authorities at the last instant due to their poor condition.

The peloton broke apart several times on the first cobbled sectors and the passages of the VAMberg. WaowDeals Pro Cycling was attentive and had several riders at the front with each breakaway. Nevertheless, the different groups were always able to re-connect.

“In the final cobble stone sector, the peloton accelerated strongly and the group broke in parts, also partly because of a crash”, says sports director Jeroen Blijlevens, who saw a group of around 40 riders race into the final, including Dani Rowe, Jeanne Korevaar, Riejanne Markus and Marianne Vos on behalf of WaowDeals Pro Cycling.

Strong team
“We jumped with the breakaways but didn’t get far”, says Jeroen Blijlevens. “At the end, we tried to keep Marianne as well as possible at the front in order to launch her sprint.  This was not the original plan, but it turned out this way, especially since she said she felt good.”

WaowDeals Pro Cycling deserve a lot of credit, says Jeroen Blijlevens. The bright green shirts were at the front at decisive moments. “Marianne was 5th, but in our group, we had more riders with very good legs. Jeanne Korevaar was probably the strongest which is not surprising. Also Riejanne proved once more that she made progress.”