“I was praying the line would come a bit closer’

Trek-Segafredo battled small Dutch roads littered with road furniture, crosswinds, and a thorny finish and just missed out on taking a second straight win in the EasyToys Bloeizone Fryslân Tour.

 The team plan was clear – keep the leader’s jersey on the back of Ellen van Dijk and set up Chloe Hosking for victory – but Lonneke Uneken (SD Worx) thwarted a perfect day and edged Chloe Hosking at the line.

 “I think coming into the race, we had hoped that the wind would play a factor as these races are always so crazy with a big peloton and small roads. There were moments in the race where the wind definitely started to have an impact, but it was not consistently in one direction enough. So not as a big an impact as we wanted. I know Ellen wanted to have some fun in the crosswinds, but maybe we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow for that,” explained Hosking.

While the gales were enough to break the peloton into two, they were not enough to create the havoc Trek-Segafredo hoped for, and it was still a large albeit reduced bunch that played out the final sprint.  

“I was the first to open up the sprint, and it was a bit of a headwind, so that’s not the ideal situation, but I wanted to take the left-hand side of the road, and I could sense that it was about to close. I could see the 200m sign coming, and I just thought, go for it, hug the left, head down, power to the line, and hope for the best. 

“I was getting closer and closer to the line, and I could feel someone coming on the right. I was praying the line would come a bit closer, but it didn’t. Unfortunately, I had to settle for second. Overall, I am quite proud of my sprint – I took the initiative and went for it.”

“It was also a fantastic team effort,” continued Hosking. “We had a full lead-out with Elynor, Letizia and Ellen, and we put ourselves in perfect position. Of course, it feels shake to not finish off the team’s hard work, but I think we can be really proud of how we came together in the final and committed to the plan,” she added.

 Elynor Bäckstedt was a force at the front all race. The 20-year-old, now with a complete season under her belt, showed a high level of comfort in a nervous peloton constantly fighting for position with the wind a constant threat. The stress was high in the bunch, but the Trek-Segafredo team had a firm grip of the reins. It did not go unnoticed by Hosking.

“It’s so phenomenal to see the young teammates making such a huge step in the new season,” pointed out Hosking. “I guess that’s what you get when you race with younger riders – they make a lot more progress than us older riders,” she smiled.

“It’s so great to see Elynor really finding her feet and Letizia coming back to shape after some health issues. I am really proud to ride behind them. We have another stage tomorrow to try and get the win for them.”