'I'm super proud of my effort' - Silke Smulders caught on the line in Simac Ladies Tour finale

Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) came oh so close to winning stage 6 and possibly even the general classification at the Simac Ladies Tour with a 39-kilometre solo breakaway, but in a dramatic finale, the 23-year-old was caught on the line by world champion and eventual winner Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime).

In the end, Smulders finished fourth on the day and seventh in the final GC, 23 seconds behind Kopecky.

“I’m really proud of my effort and of the team. We wanted to make it hard and go for it, that is the way we want to race. I’m super proud of my effort and I think I was super strong. I almost made it, so I’m really happy with that,” Smulders said after the finish, having been caught within metres of the finish line and placing fourth, just outside the time bonifications.

Smulders started the sixth and final stage in seventh overall, 21 seconds behind overnight leader Franziska Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL). She had attacked on the third of seven finishing laps à 8.1km – and like almost everybody who ends up at the front of a race on their own, Smulders hadn’t planned for a solo.

“I was thinking, ‘please, someone join’ and ‘what did I start’, but when you’re in it, there’s no way back. I was like, ‘Okay, I just go as hard as possible to the finish, and I will see where it ends’,” she explained.

Smulders joined Lotto-Soudal for 2021, then moved to Liv Racing the following year. The team was merged with GreenEdge’s women’s team for 2024, becoming Liv-AlUla-Jayco, and Smulders performed consistently throughout the season, a.o. finishing 21st in the Vuelta Femenina, 15th in the Vuelta a Burgos, second in the Vuelta a Andalucía where she won the opening stage, 13th in the Giro d’Italia Women, 21st in the Tour de France Femmes, 16th in the Classic Lorient Agglomération, and 25th in the Tour de Romandie.

She carried the confidence coming from these results into the Simac Ladies Tour where she placed fifth in the stage 1 time trial before going all-in on the last day. Smulders even held the virtual GC lead into the final lap and was less than 20 metres from taking a stand-out victory.

“For a long time, it was 30 seconds, 40 seconds, and in the end, I thought that I could make it when I got through the final corner. They caught me on the line, that was shit, but I actually didn’t think that I would come so far when I started it.”

Despite narrowly missing out on the stage win, Smulders got a trip to the podium as she was awarded the combativity prize and the accompanying red jersey, and she could celebrate with her teammate Jeanne Korevaar who won the QOM classification, having worn the polka-dot jersey since stage 2.

“Since I got the QOM jersey it became a goal to keep it, and it felt really special that the girls wanted to help me with it. It is a prize for the whole team, we rode really aggressively, and we can be proud. Of course, we wished for Silke to have won today, but it was so close. We’re all incredibly proud of her,” said Korevaar.