Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) missed out on the podium at the Dutch Cyclocross Championships won by Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Alpecin) on Sunday in Oisterwijk.
The former eight-time cyclocross world champion said the pace was simply too fast and by mid-race "The candle went out".
"Puck was gone quickly. Then I was on Ceylin's wheel (Del Carmen Alvarado) for a while, but after a while, my candle went out. I could still keep going a bit, but the pace was down," Vos told Wielerflits in a post-race interview.
Vos made a long-awaited return to cyclocross after nearly two years out, at the World Cup in Besançon on December 29. Her last cyclocross appearance was at the Benidorm World Cup in January 2023 as she skipped the entire subsequent 2023-24 'cross season to recover from iliac artery surgery undergone in August of that year. It was the first full cyclocross campaign that Vos had missed since her injury-plagued 2015 season.
At the Dutch Championships, two of the pre-race favourites were not in attendance, Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions), and Pieterse proved the strongest of those racing, setting a fast pace right off out of the starting grid.
Vos quickly followed Del Carmen Alvarado, but the pair lost time to Pieterse. Del Carmen Alvarado then distanced Vos. A chasing Denise Betsema then reconnected with Vos before surging ahead, leaving Vos to settle for fourth place on the day.
"Then Denise quickly came closer. I tried to keep my rhythm, but in the end, I still ended up in fourth place," Vos said.
"I had to bow my head at the finish, but that was mainly because of the suffering. It was a beautiful cross, but a very tough one. Despite the suffering, I still enjoyed myself today."
Dutch National coach Gerben de Knegt said that Vos, in consultation with the coaches, would decide after the Besançon World Cup, where she finished fifth, whether she would compete at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships on February 1-2.
Her return to cyclocross comes off the back of another stellar road campaign in 2024, which saw her take wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold Race and two stages of the Vuelta, and the green jersey at the Tour de France. She then capped off the season with another rainbow jersey at the Gravel World Championships in Leuven.
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