Even though the race ended in a sprint for the win, the GP Oetingen was a hard one. Something that can been seen at the results, as a lot of riders weren’t able to finish. During the 140 kilometers more and more women had to let go the peloton, a small first group then sprinted for the win, with Nicole Steigenga becoming 15th. Ingvild Gaskjenn would have done the sprint, but had mechanical problems and a crash.
One of the riders that contributed to a strong race of Team Coop – Hitec Products, was Mari Hole Mohr. “It was a really hard race, but also a very exciting one”, she looks back on the UCI 1.1 race in Belgium. The peloton did a 22 kilometers long first lap and then nine laps of 12 kilometers. “It was kind of hectic end the crashes created a lot of the splits. I don’t think it was the hill that dropped people. Every single lap the peloton broke and it mostly came together.”
Progress
Still, less than half of the started riders were able to reach the finish. Amongst them were Nicole, Ingvild (26th), Caroline Andersson (29th) and Mari (33rd). Mari had fun; “I really like these races. I find them less boring, as things keep happening. And you can use bike handling skills.” She also notices progress in the team; “I feel that we are stronger this year. Also the best riders of the team are stronger and that makes it easier to help them. It also motivates the others to do better. And when you have a job it also makes it easier.”
Photo: Sportfoto.nl