Sofie van Rooijen (Netherlands) sprinted to victory and claimed the European U23 Road title on Friday in Hasselt, Belgium. The 22-year-old Dutchwoman was the best of the peloton, easily outsprinting her compatriot Scarlett Souren, who took the silver, and Eleonora Gasparrini (Italy), who took bronze.
Van Rooijen was the pre-race favorite and explained afterwards that everything went according to plan. “It was a perfect day. The title was my season goal. It is my last U23 year. So it was my last chance. We had a strong team and I had a perfect leadout. I think you could see on TV how well we did as a team. We came one and two, so it couldn’t have been much better.”
Souren, who is also Van Rooijen’s leadout rider on the VolkerWessels team, was surprised but very happy that she was able to take the silver medal. “It was so crazy,” she said afterwards. “I didn’t have to push, I wasn’t in any danger and I saw that Sofie won. But I was also doing well and didn’t see anyone next to me. So I sprinted with my last breath. And I’m second. Just absurd.”
Bronze medalist Gasparrini was happy to have done so well on a course that didn’t necessarily suit her. “I am certainly very happy about this medal because I can say that it was not exactly the perfect course for my characteristics, a bit too flat. I prefer slightly harder courses. But I knew I could play my cards, we knew that the Netherlands were a very strong team and that they had the strongest sprinter, so we tried to do our best.”
U23 Women Podium
(image: UEC -Limburg2024)
Team Belgium
The Belgian team did not fare so well, finding themselves boxed-in and out of position in the final kilometer. Their best finisher was Anna Vanderaerden in 11th place, who confirmed afterwards that it was an issue of poor positioning in the finale. “[I] sat too far [back] in the final kilometer.”
For Vanderaerden’s teammate Julie De Wilde, who finished 19th, the problem was being caught up against a fence in the final kilometer. “I was trapped inside and wanted to get out, but then I came into contact with another racer, pushing me a little against the fences.”
How it happened
The 101.5km race started in cool autumn-like temperatures with Mikka Holm (Denmark) and Nela Slaníková (Czech Republic) the first ones to try an attack. Their efforts were closely monitored by the peloton and not helped by a mechanical problem that struck Holm with 48km to go. Shortly afterwards, the duo was reeled in by the peloton.
The Belgians were the next to try something with around 30km to go, but were as unsuccessful as the early attackers. This would prove later on to be their last opportunity in the race to do something.
With the penultimate lap approaching, there were several attempts to get away. Italy tried first, unsuccessfully, followed by Julia Kopecký (Czech Republic) and then Wilma Aintila (Finland). But all were quickly reeled in by the Netherlands and Switzerland who controlled the peloton.
As the final lap began, a crash in the peloton took down Finnish time trial winner Anniina Ahtosalo, who was luckily able to get up and continue, but would not catch up and eventually finished 1:42″ down. As the final kilometers ticked down, the Dutch carefully monitored any attacks and began preparing for a bunch sprint.
In the final, the Dutchwoman Scarlett Souren led out the sprint for teammate Van Rooijen, who easily came around her with 100 meters to go. And Souren had enough left in the tank to take the silver ahead of Gasparrini.
RESULTS
European U23 Women Road Championships (101.4km)