“Let's go”. Puck Pieterse shouted into the microphone to his teammates after officials confirmed that he had won stage 4 of the Tour de France Femme in rain-soaked Liège, defeating yellow-jerseyed Demi Vollaring in a photo finish sprint.

It was a suspenseful few minutes as Pieterse and Vollaring stood side by side, surrounded by photographers and journalists, waiting to see who had won the stage. When it became clear that Pieterse had won, the celebratory mood in Phoenix des Seuninck was ignited. Vollering could not help but show his enthusiasm as well, embracing his Dutch compatriot before the two took to the podium.

“I can't believe it. My legs have been so good the last few days. The first day my legs were good, the second day my legs were good. Today I didn't feel the legs at all. It was a dream come true to win a sprint race with Demi,” Pieterse said.

Asked if he believed he could hold off the breakaway group of Vollering (SD Works-Protime) and Kasia Nieviadoma (Canyon-SRAM) for the win, Pieterse said, “I didn't know. I had never had a sprint competition with Demi, so I didn't know how it would go.”

“I just went with my gut and tried to give it everything I had. I may not have the body of a sprinter, but in mountain biking, especially on the short track, you need to be explosive.”

Pieterse, Vollering, and Niewiadoma broke away from the pack on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons with 13.4 km to go. Niewiadoma attacked in the final breakaway, but Vollering closed the gap just as Pieterse sprinted from the third wheel. Vollering responded and the two reached the finish line at the same time.

“I knew they were riding for GC and I came here to run the stage while I was fresh. I could have played a little poker. I knew that Cascia was going to attack and Demi was going to follow, so I tried to put on a poker face and get them into a sprint race.”

“I ended up going pretty early. I had never been here before and didn't know where the finish line was. I feel like I waited for years for the results, but I'm really happy to have won.”

Pieterse came directly from the Olympics to the Tour de France Femme, where he suffered an unfortunate flat tire on the fifth of seven laps in the mountain bike competition and finished fourth, just outside the medal standings.

“I trained a lot for the Olympics, so if I have good legs at the Olympics, I can have good legs here,” Pieterse said of his performance in Liège.

Asked if he thinks he will have to choose between mountain biking and road racing in the future, Pieterse said that his schedule this season has brought top performances in both disciplines and that he will continue to race both.

“At the moment, I don't have to choose. Because this race fits my race block perfectly.

“Mountain biking and road are perfectly compatible. Maybe in the future it will be more difficult. Of course you have to make a choice, but I think I proved that you can win on both mountain bike and road”

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“It also shows the level of mountain biking and I am here to represent it. Next year, Pauline [Ferrand-Prevot] will do the same and I look forward to competing with her on the road."

For Phoenix Deceuninck, Pieters' victory was her second at the Tour de France Femme since Yara Castellaine won a stage to Rodez last year, and the two victories solidified her place at the top of the women's cycling world.

“It's cool to see how the team has progressed over the years,” said Castellane. Of course we started as a road team with cyclocross riders running together.

“We became part of the World Tour and Yara won a stage last year. We can be there when it matters. It's the biggest stage race for the women right now, and to prove for the second year in a row that we can be there, it's great and it moves us forward for the next few years and for what's going to happen.”

Pieterse said she is looking forward to racing in the Alpe d'Huez for stage 8 of the Tour Finale. She climbed the Alpe d'Huez on August 3, finishing with a time of 52:20, the third-fastest time in Strava behind Eli Gardner and Emma Pulley.

“I'm looking forward to that stage, but first I'll recover and see how tomorrow and the next day go. I'm perfectly trained for climbing in a stage like Liège, but it's different in the Alpe d'Huez.” In the Alpe d'Huez it's completely different: high altitude, long efforts instead of six-minute efforts, etc.

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