In the Districtenpijl – Ekeren-Deurne, Jessica Roberts showed herself in the frontline again on Sunday. The 23-years-old British rider has some rough years behind her and is getting the time at Team Coop – Hitec Products to find her old form back. On Sunday that resulted in her first UCI-points in one and a half years, as she sprinted to the 13th place in the UCI 1.1 race. Four riders managed to stay ahead.”
“The race was a positive step up for me and the team did a great job”, Jessica looks back. “Sylvie was always keeping me up the front, with Emma helping too. We lost each other a bit in the last few kilometers, so I just tried to follow other wheels. I was in the mix for the bunch sprint. I just haven’t quite got my kick back yet, but this is a step in the right direction for me and I’m happy to be able to put myself in the position to actually sprint! Just need my sprinting legs to come back now!”
Confidence for Baloise Ladies Tour
Perhaps there will already be chances for that this week, as Jessica and the team are starting in the Baloise Ladies Tour on Wednesday. “That should be an exciting week of racing. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do as a team and to keep working on our lead out together. There is also a prologue and TT, which I hope to be able to do well in. It’s a lot higher level than the race yesterday, so it will be tough racing, especially with the World Tour Teams, but I can take some confidence from yesterday in to the race next week!”
Photo: Daan van Overveld