Mirre Knaven of AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step sprinted to her first UCI podium in the GP Ecostruct/Thomson/Security Tools at the weekend. In the 138,8-kilometre-long race with start and finish in Schellebelle, Belgium, Mirre sprinted to a third place. It is the 18-year-old Dutch rider’s first podium place in only her fourth UCI elite race ever.
“I am very happy of course,” said Mirre after the finish. “This is my first podium as a first-year elite rider and that is really nice. I felt amazingly good, so I thought I’d go for that sprint. That wasn’t quite the plan. I wanted to be at the front and go along with attacks. We only noticed that that was not going to work, so it became the sprint. The atmosphere is good within the team and after Julia’s win last week I couldn’t stay behind.”
It was another good result for the team after Gaia Masetti’s win at La Classique Morbihan on Friday and her seventh place in the GP du Morbihan Femmes.
“We rode really well as a team again today,” Gaia reacted after the GP race. “The finish would suit me well, so I was the one who should finish it off. At 45 kilometres from the line, Grace Brown attacked. We tried to get other teams to work with us, but no one did and Grace stayed away. I think that when we would have had some help, the final would be different. But all in all, I am really happy with this weekend after first and now seventh place. I want to thank the girls, the staff and Servais in the car for the great opportunity I got this weekend.”
In southern France, the team’s juniors raced the Tour du Gévaudan, a very hard climber’s race with a challenging finish on the Montée Laurent Jalabert in Mende. Lore De Schepper and Ella Heremans finished just outside the top ten in the first stage.
