Lorena Wiebes became Dutch road race champion again on Saturday in Ede. She bested Charlotte Kool in a race marred by a crash in the peloton.
Wiebes was considered the top favorite beforehand in the mass sprint and fully lived up to that role in Ede. Kool went early, but couldn’t make it difficult for Wiebes.
The 26-year-old Wiebes is the successor to Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, who retired from cycling earlier this year. She received a guard of honor in Ede just before the start.
This is Wiebes’ second Dutch title on the road. The sprinter from SD Worx – Protime was also the best in the Netherlands a year ago. She also won the sprint in Ede then.
About 7 kilometers from the finish, the peloton was startled by a serious crash. Among others, Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering were involved. They could no longer play a role in the final, but did finish the race.
The NK was initially supposed to take place in Nijmegen and Berg en Dal. That changed when it turned out that no police deployment was possible due to the NATO summit. Ede saved the NK by taking over the organization. A road race could take place there without police deployment.
The race consisted of three flat laps of 40.6 kilometers. It was therefore the shortest NK course in fifty years. A mass sprint was inevitable, although VolkerWessels teammates Eline Jansen and Lonneke Uneken were allowed to go on an adventure for a while.
Behind the escaped duo, Vos and Vollering also tried to break away, but that was unsuccessful. Vollering even rode together with her seven-year-younger sister Bodine for a while, but had to rejoin the peloton a little later.
In the tense peloton, Vollering and Vos then got exactly what they didn’t want: a crash. Vos was therefore unable to sprint for the medals. Vollering would normally not have done that anyway. She said afterwards that the damage was not too bad, but that she would have preferred to stay at home afterwards.