This weekend the NXTG team lined up for two races. The ZLM Omloop der Kempen and the 2-districtenpijl. Bith races were characterised by very wet weather. On Saturday in the first Topcompetitie race Omloop der Kempen almost all of the team crashed. It was a race we should soon forget, said sports director Brent Van Ballenberghe. “The one positive thing we can take away from it is that the girls kept on fighting to come back.”
On Sunday the team started in Belgium in the 2-dictrictenpijl. Shari Bossuyt was third in the race but the results were eventually deleted due to the weather – thunderstorms and rain – and poor communication. Three kilometres from the finish the riders heard the race would end and they could sprint for the win. Because it was a UCI 1.2 race the sports directors had no way to communicate this to the riders because there was no in-ear communication.
Shari Bossuyt:
This was a really dangerous race with these weather circumstances. All of a sudden we had to finish. There were only a few riders who knew that the next passing of the finish line would be the actual finish. I didn’t know but was well positioned at the front and could ride to third. Normally we had another lap to do.
For sports director Wim Stroetinga the race should have been neutralized sooner. He adds that the team did a good race under the circumstances and with the proper execution of the race plan more than a third place would have been very well possible.