Charlotte Kool started the Simac Ladies Tour with a fantastic tenth place in a world class field in Ede. The NXTG rider finished in the same second as the riders in 7th, 8th and 9th place showing it was a tight race on Tuesday. Charlotte averaged 45,7 km/h and was 8 seconds slower than winner Marianne Vos. After an anxious wait for the last rider to come in, Charlotte was elated with this result.
I am very, very happy,. I am happy that all the hard work paid off. I trained a lot on the time trial bike and this was a goal for me. I could not have dreamt of a top ten and then especially with all the riders so close together. It was a technical, super short and explosive course and that suits me well. This gives me a lot of confidence for the first sprint stage tomorrow.
Maud finished in 34th place, 14 seconds behind winner Marianne Vos. Ilse was 44th at 16 seconds, Catalina 58th at 18 seconds and Julia 61st at 19 seconds. Britt had a mechanical straight from the start and had to change bikes. She came in last.
The Simac Ladies Tour continues on Wednesday with a sprint stage from Zwolle to the Netherlands. The live broadcast starts at 1pm CET on GCN, Eurosport and the regional broadcasters RTV Oost, L1 and Omroep Gelderland.