Healthy Aging Tour Stage 3

Lonneke Uneken wins the final stage in horrendous conditions, Ellen van Dijk of Trek Segafredo wins the 2021 Healthy Ageing Tour

Healthy Aging Tour Stage 3

Lonneke Uneken wins the final stage in horrendous conditions, Ellen van Dijk wins the 2021 Healthy Ageing Tour

Photo ©Sportfoto.nl

Trek Segafredo Press Release

Ellen van Dijk entered the third and final stage of the Healthy Ageing Tour with the yellow leader’s jersey on her back. However, Van Dijk was up against not only a swarm of hungry riders, but also inclement weather and an energy sapping-course. It was important to have a rider in the breakaway to keep an eye on proceedings, a role that was fulfilled by Lauretta Hanson, but when the attacks began to fly, Van Dijk needed teammates in the peloton to maintain order.

“I’m super happy that we could finish it off because the team was a really strong force, it was like one unit. It was so cool to see them all working and to be able to ride behind them almost all race. I knew I had to do my own thing in the finale, and I also really wanted to do this for them. Everyone rode so strong and in the final Lauretta was super, super good to help me as well,” explained Van Dijk.

“The plan going into the stage was to stay with my main competitors; Amy Pieters and Lisa Brennauer, and also to be patient because it’s a really hard lap which sucks a lot of energy out of you, so don’t panic too early.”

Photo ©Sportfoto.nl

It was an immense task to keep a race like this under control, and Hanson was pulled out of the breakaway to help. As the tension increased, the size of the chasing peloton decreased, eventually leaving just a handful of the strongest riders to battle it out.

Lonneke Uneken (SD Worx) attacked solo and gained an impressive lead of three minutes. She started the day just two minutes behind Van Dijk, and temporarily assumed the virtual GC lead. “When Lonneke Uneken attacked I thought it was good, because I was in a group with four from SD Worx, so I thought, ‘she’s two minutes behind me on GC, so that’s fine, she can go,’” said Van Dijk. “We heard on the radio all the time it was one minute, which was fine. But suddenly it was three minutes so then the panic was there, and we had to do all we could. Lauretta did some crazy good work and then I had to take over.”

“In the meantime, it became so cold and rainy, and I almost couldn’t see anything anymore, my hands were frozen, so the shifting was a real problem. On the second to last lap, I had a big problem to shift to easier gears on the cobbles. So I was in way too big of a gear and I could not follow the group with my main competitors, but then I could chase back afterwards again. I knew that I was not feeling super bad, but just struggling so much from the cold.”

Photo from Cams Tifosi website

It was touch and go heading into the final lap of the Col du VAM circuit, and Van Dijk was tiring from the sustained efforts. The gap to Uneken started to drop, but there was a threat from the riders around Van Dijk. While that threat looked to be neutralized, the riders in the top of the GC were within a half-minute or less of her lead. With the finish atop the human-made Col du VAM, anything could happen – especially after being on the limit for so long in miserable weather.

“In the last lap I had to chase full-gas, or we would lose it to Uneken. I knew that the last climb was going to be a big challenge. On the final climb I was really parked, and I just had to get up there. I couldn’t go with Brennauer and Norsgaard and I knew they were dangerous, so I just had to give it all to the finish line. At one point I didn’t even know if I would make it over the cobbles anymore. It was just a struggle but that makes the victory even sweeter. I wasn’t very fast anymore, but in the end just fast enough.”

Mustering all her remaining strength, Van Dijk hauled herself up the final climb, crossing the cobbled finish line in fourth place, 1’29” behind the stage winner Uneken, and 15 seconds behind Brennauer and Norsgaard.

Photo ©Sportfoto.nl

After the calculations, just six seconds separated Van Dijk from Brennauer in second and 12 to Norsgaard in third. “I couldn’t have done it without the team,” said Van Dijk. “It was a real team effort and also the mechanics were shouting from the side of the road and soigneurs were there and (Director) Ina (Teutenberg) – really everyone was involved, a great team atmosphere and so cool to see.

“At the finish I was so cold, it was just incredible, I could not think anymore! I needed blankets and everything to warm up. It was just a very hard, hard race. Which was good.” After missing out on the win in 2019, Van Dijk reclaimed her top spot on the podium, bringing her tally of GC wins at the Healthy Ageing Tour to a remarkable four.

“Four times? Ah yeah four times,” recounted Van Dijk. “I have to say every time was different and I think for sure this was the hardest and also with the most exciting finale. “I am so happy I could pay off the work of the team and to bring this one home is a very nice feeling. First win of the year! On to more!”

Lonneke Uneken (Stage winner) “I didn’t expect this this morning”, said Uneken who lives not far away from the traject of the Healthy Ageing Tour. “It was really hard, and I attacked really soon. At a moment some teammates came back to my group. I attacked again, was gone and teammates blocked my move. I only had to keep riding. The victory kept me motivated.”

Emma Norsgaard (2nd, Movistar): “Today it was savage! It was by far the hardest stage of the week. Maybe going on the breakaway from so early wasn’t the smartest idea (laughs), but the only thing I was thinking about was the GC, and leaving all out on the road. I really wanted to get on that overall podium. I could see the yellow jersey reaching out to us after that long move, but I just left it all out on the road until the end. I’m really happy about today and the week in general – I feel like this is a really great team to be part of and we did really well together, and in the end, this work is paying off and I’m just super happy. I can’t wait for the classics to come and hopefully more success in the upcoming races.”

Pfeiffer Georgi: “It was like an elimination race today with the bunch reducing every time up the VAM-berg so positioning was crucial,” explained Pfeiffer after the race. “Also, the strong winds and heavy rain made it a really tough race out there, but we all kept fighting until the end so I think we can be happy with how we raced today.”

Jo Tindley (CAMS-Tifosi): “I was in a group of about five or six and only 34 people are on the results, and we were just outside that group,” Jo Tindley said. “They pulled us because of the conditions and let the 34 in front go, so that’s why we’re not in the results. It’s a shame because it would have been a nice result. This sort of race is very much about positioning and you needed to be up at the front, it’s very narrow and unfortunately I was a bit too far back when lining up before the start.”

“It was just a case of trying to move up where I could, picking off riders and moving up through the race on the climbs, and it that sense it wasn’t ideal, but it got me through, but it wasn’t part of my plan!” Jo added: “I think it’s been great, we’re so fortunate to have this opportunity to be here and doing this. I have done this race before so know what this race is like and how hard it is. We have a very inexperienced team racing and I think they’ve done really well. They should be really proud of how they’ve ridden this week because it hasn’t been easy.

“Stage one was tough because of the circuit we were on and with the time trial it was incredible. I’ve not done anything like that before in the wind, and today was brutal, I’ve not done a race like that before!”

Hayley Simmonds (CAMS-Tifosi) was caught up in a crash very early on in the race and suffered a twisted knee. She battled on through the pain for as long as she could but was forced to withdraw. Team-mate Jess Finney was in the same group as Jo for much of the race but was pulled out too. For CAMS-Tifosi it was a good week overall and a positive start to a new year of racing after a year off from competition due to the pandemic.

Alice Barnes: “Elise was racing strong and we were happy to have four riders in the final when the peloton was small. My legs felt really good today even over the VAMberg each time. I had some cramps in the last laps and I’m quite frustrated that I didn’t get to give it everything in the final. Fortunately we don’t have long to wait for the next race,” said Barnes who will race again with the team on Sunday 14 March.”

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