The Col du Glandon was nearly Puck Pieterse’s undoing. But then, it was almost everyone’s undoing. The Fenix-Deceuninck rider came into the final stage of this Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on the podium, sitting in second. She held the white jersey by 45 seconds over Shirin van Anrooij. But the Glandon, a monster, one of the Tour’s longest climbs, did as it always does and sought to rip away anything left dangling.
Pieterse was dangling. A bit more than 10 km from the top she fell slowly off the back, fighting her bike in a way we aren’t used to seeing. The 22-year-old is eminently capable. A cyclocross star, a mountain bike star, a Tour de France stage winner who was sitting on the GC podium coming into the final day of road racing’s biggest stage, in her first-ever stage race. Climbs well, sprints well; punchy and willing to grit out hard days. It’s a list that makes her one of the most exciting young talents in world cycling. You can throw almost anything at her and she seems to excel.
Even the Glandon, turns out. Because as Pieterse faded, so did her only real competition for the white jersey, Van Anrooij, and the two finished within 30 seconds of each other atop Alpe d’Huez 90 minutes later. Both young riders lost more than eight minutes on Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma on the day, but the white jersey is the mark of potential.
“I knew that for the white it could be possible, and that probably Shirin would be the biggest competitor together with Fem [van Empel],” Pieterse said. “But I didn’t expect it to go so well, actually.”
Pieterse’s white jersey caps an exceptional Tour for a rider who, just three weeks ago, was entirely focused on medaling in the Olympic cross-country race, an event that took her less than an hour and a half. The physical requirements in Paris were entirely different than they are for a Tour de France. Then she won a stage, the lumpy Ardennes Classics-like stage 4 into Liège, and rode consistently for her teammate Pauliena Rooijakkers, who barnstormed her way into third overall. It is not the least bit surprising that she dangled and then broke on the slopes of a climb that alone took roughly three quarters as long as her whole Olympic mountain bike race – and was followed by another climb almost as long.
“I won the stage also my first road race win, first WorldTour win,” she said. “That was something I didn’t expect at all. I tried to go in with the least amount of expectations and just to learn a lot. And I think I really learned a lot. And also learned to push my limits.”
The white jersey is all about the future. Last year it was won by Cédrine Kerbaol, who went on to take an impressive solo victory on stage 6 this year. In 2022, it was Van Anrooij, who has since podiumed at the Tour of Flanders and won Trofeo Alfredo Binda.
Pieterse, when pressed, doesn’t really know what that future holds. Mountain bike for a few more years? Maybe. Versatility, and road racing, beckon. Like many other cross-discipline supertalents, maybe she doesn’t have to decide at all.
“Maybe I stay on the mountain bike for a few more years,” Pieterse said. “Maybe I come back next year already for the Tour. I don’t know.”
Maybe a yellow jersey one day?
“For sure. You need to dream big.”
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