{"id":118615,"date":"2026-04-22T02:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/id-rather-have-one-real-standout-result-than-three-podiums-puck-pieterse-keeps-eyes-trained-on-top-step-as-ardennes-campaign-continues-with-defence-at-la-fleche-wallonne\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:20:00","slug":"id-rather-have-one-real-standout-result-than-three-podiums-puck-pieterse-keeps-eyes-trained-on-top-step-as-ardennes-campaign-continues-with-defence-at-la-fleche-wallonne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/id-rather-have-one-real-standout-result-than-three-podiums-puck-pieterse-keeps-eyes-trained-on-top-step-as-ardennes-campaign-continues-with-defence-at-la-fleche-wallonne\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I\u2019d rather have one real standout result than three podiums&#8217; \u2013 Puck Pieterse keeps eyes trained on top step as Ardennes campaign continues with defence at La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"elk-a43672f7-1202-4b43-9483-26de1b378ce6\">Last year <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/puck-pieterse\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/puck-pieterse\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/puck-pieterse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Puck Pieterse<\/a> was on the podium across the three Ardennes Classics but there is no pressure to try and live up to that record, with the Fenix-Premier Tech rider recognising that even though her form is at a similar level, the rest of the peloton isn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old Dutch rider who last year took third at <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/womens-cycling\/amstel-gold-race-ladies-paula-blasi-fights-off-strong-chasers-to-upset-the-favourites-and-claim-impressive-solo-victory\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/womens-cycling\/amstel-gold-race-ladies-paula-blasi-fights-off-strong-chasers-to-upset-the-favourites-and-claim-impressive-solo-victory\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/womens-cycling\/amstel-gold-race-ladies-paula-blasi-fights-off-strong-chasers-to-upset-the-favourites-and-claim-impressive-solo-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amstel Gold Race<\/a>, won La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and was second at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge Femmes , started off this week&#8217;s run with tenth in the opening event, saying while she didn&#8217;t have her &#8220;best legs&#8221; at Amstel Gold Race it was about more than that..<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-a43672f7-1202-4b43-9483-26de1b378ce6-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;The difference is that the overall level has increased,&#8221; said Pieterse in a release from her team. &#8220;More riders have taken a step forward, so the racing has become harder.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-continues-below block py-2 text-sm\">Article continues below <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"inline-block w-2.5 h-2.5 ml-2\" fill=\"currentColor\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMidYMid meet\" viewbox=\"0 0 1000 1000\"><path d=\"M1000 100L500 900 0 100h1000z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><br \/>\n            You may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A prime example of this, says Pieterse, is FDJ United-SUEZ who won De Brabantse Pijl with C\u00e9lia Gery, Paris-Roubaix with Franziska Koch, Tour of Flanders with Demi Vollering and Strade Bianche with Elise Chabbey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve already won Classics with four different riders this spring, which says a lot. The overall level has clearly increased.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">That, however, doesn&#8217;t mean that Pieterse is waving the white flag at a group of races that she has been building form toward as a key target, taking fourth at Milan-San Remo and third at Tour of Flanders, another key event for her, along the way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Of course you want that again,&#8221; she said of last year&#8217;s successful Ardennes run, &#8220;but it won\u2019t be easy. I\u2019d rather have one real standout result than three podiums.<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-fyNG8G4JFPbBQ86gkCmXFA\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-fyNG8G4JFPbBQ86gkCmXFA slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Hopefully I can get that one big result, but I don\u2019t feel the need to match anything. I\u2019m in good shape, I\u2019ll do my best, and we\u2019ll see where that takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The rider will be turning to mountain biking once again after the Ardennes, coming back to the road for the Tour de France, but for this block there are now two more opportunities to capture that top step once again.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s more for Wednesday&#8217;s <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/la-fleche-wallonne-femmes\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/la-fleche-wallonne-femmes\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/la-fleche-wallonne-femmes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne<\/a> she will be lining up with the number one on her back and with a team behind her that knows what it needs to do to help her chase it once again.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone knows what to do at the right moments,&#8221; said Pieterse. &#8220;The tactics won\u2019t change much. Like most teams: keep it together until the foot of the Mur and then go all out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Pieterse will have Lotte Claes, Sara Casasola, Yara Kastelijn, Carina Schrempf and Aniek van Alphen lining up alongside her.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Get unlimited access to our unrivalled <\/strong><\/em><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/races\/spring-classics-2026\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/races\/spring-classics-2026\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/races\/spring-classics-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><strong>2026 Spring Classics<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong> coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We&#8217;ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. <\/strong><\/em><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/sub24\/?utm_source=Referral+link&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=SC26\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/sub24\/?utm_source=Referral+link&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=SC26\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/sub24\/?utm_source=Referral+link&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=SC26\" rel=\"noopener\"><u><em><strong>Find out more.<\/strong><\/em><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/id-rather-have-one-real-standout-result-than-three-podiums-puck-pieterse-keeps-eyes-trained-on-top-step-as-ardennes-campaign-continues-with-defence-at-la-fleche-wallonne\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year Puck Pieterse was on the podium across the three Ardennes Classics but there is no pressure to try and live up to that record, with the Fenix-Premier Tech rider recognising that even though her form is at a similar level, the rest of the peloton isn&#8217;t. The 23-year-old Dutch rider who last year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}