Off the back of two brilliant recent wins, Team DSMโs Womenโs programme made it an exceptional three in a row at Nokere Koerse this afternoon as Lorena Wiebes surged to victory on the uphill cobbled finale.
A somewhat undulating 125 kilometre long parcours awaited the peloton today as they rolled out of Deinze for Nokere Koerse. Taking control of the bunch early on, the team worked well to make sure that no dangerous moves went clear as they looked to conserve energy and keep protected finisher Lorena Wiebes safe for the finale; with Elise Uijen and Esmรฉe Peperkamp doing a great job.
One lone rider managed to forge clear, but the bunch were always in control and heading into the last 40 kilometres the race was all back together. Unfortunately, bad luck struck the team as several riders were involved in a large crash when the race was strung out and full gas. As a result, Pfeiffer Georgi and Franziska Koch were too far behind and as a result stopped the race. That left Charlotte Kool and Wiebes in the reduced front peloton heading into the last 20 kilometres.
Undeterred, Kool did a brilliant teammates role to expertly mark out any dangerous attacks and the race was all together heading into the finale. With Kool positioning Wiebes approaching the flamme rouge, Wiebes brilliantly surfed the wheels and used all of her experience to find the perfect line around the last corner, timing the moment to launch her sprint masterfully. Delivering a devastating kick on the Nokereberg and surging clear of the peloton, Wiebes had an abundance of time to raise her arms aloft, celebrating another brilliant Team DSM win.ย