Almost ten months after her last victory, Sofie van Rooijen is back on top.
The Dutch sprinter powered to victory today at the Konvert Kortrijk Koerse in Belgium, claiming a strong win in the bunch sprint after 127.6 kilometres around Kortrijk.
UAE Development Team lined up with a strong and experienced squad, featuring two riders from the WorldTour team alongside van Rooijen also Alena Ivanchenko. They were joined by young talents Fee Knaven, Eilidh Shaw and Magdalena Leis, as well as Emirati riders Zahra Hussain and Safiya Alsayegh.
The team played a key role throughout the race, controlling the action and keeping the peloton together ahead of the expected sprint finish. In the closing kilometres, the riders then delivered an excellent lead-out to position van Rooijen perfectly for the final showdown.
The Dutch rider repaid the team’s work in style, producing a powerful sprint to take the victory and return to the top step of the podium. Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Deceuninck) finished second, with Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health) completing the podium.
For van Rooijen, the victory marks a long-awaited return to winning ways and another important success for UAE Development Team.
Sofie van Rooijen: “I’m very happy to be back to winning. It wasn’t an easy day, as we were racing in the rain all day, and the team was a great support. Unfortunately, Magdalena Leis was involved in a crash, but she managed to get back to the group. She and the whole team did a great job and did everything they could to keep me in the best possible position. I’m very happy to have repaid the whole team with this victory.”
(ph. @thomas_573)
