About Puck Pieterse
- Born: 13 May 2002 in Amersfoort (Netherlands)
- Place of residence: Amersfoort
- Size: 1.69 metres
- Weight: 54 kilogrammes
- Professional since: 2021
- Teams: Plantur-Pura (2021/22), Fenix-Deceuninck since 2023
- Important successes: U23 Road World Champion 2024, stage win and winner of the Tour de France Femmes 2024 junior classification, third in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Ronde van Drenthe 2024, Mountain Bike World Champion 2024, U23 Cyclo-Cross World Champion 2022, U19 European Cyclo-Cross Champion 2020, U23 European Cyclo-Cross Champion 2021, Dutch Cyclo-Cross Champion 2023, seven victories in the Cyclo-Cross World Cup
TOUR: At the age of 22, you are already MTB world champion and won a stage at the last Tour de France Femmes as well as the white jersey for the best young female rider. Why don't you take us on a journey to find out how it all began?
Puck Pieterse: We are a very active family, my father used to ride his mountain bike regularly and always took my sister and me with him. When I was seven years old, our local club in Amersfoort organised a children's race. I really wanted to take part and won it straight away. After that, my euphoria was so great that I raced regularly from then on.
TOUR: You started your racing career on a mountain bike?
Puck Pieterse: No, the club didn't offer mountain biking and cyclocross at the time, so I only raced on the road at the beginning. It wasn't until I was nine years old that there was a continuous programme for cyclocross. In the years that followed, I did very little mountain biking and mainly rode cyclocross and road races. When I was 17, that changed a bit. There were big and important mountain bike races for this age group in Belgium that I wanted to take part in. From then on, I did less road cycling.
TOUR: How did you grow up and who or what event has influenced you the most along the way?
Puck Pieterse: I come from a completely normal family. My parents both work, but not full-time. So they both accompanied me to every race as a child and teenager and supported me in every other way. My father's enthusiasm for cycling was a huge advantage for my development and still is today. Even today, he still travels with me in my campervan to every one of my cyclocross races.
TOUR: Your sister Isa, who is two years older, is also a racing cyclist, but not as successful as you. You both grew up with the same parental support. Why are you more successful than Isa?
Puck Pieterse: That's an interesting question! Isa is definitely talented, but already had many other interests besides cycling when she was younger. I, on the other hand, have always been very competitive and focussed on my sport. Even as a child, I was able to go deeper and push myself harder. That certainly makes a difference to my performance development. But maybe I also had it easier than my sister in some situations when I was younger. (Laughs)
TOUR: After the end of his career, former professional cyclist Simon Geschke remarked in an interview that things are much more serious in the peloton today than they were years ago. The professional cyclists have lost the fun. Looking at your social media channels, that doesn't seem to apply to you. What is Puck Pieterse like away from the sport?
Puck Pieterse: I think it's normal to lose some of your light-heartedness and fun over the years. But this has definitely not been the case for me so far! I like the social aspect of cycling and I'm also a very sociable person outside of the sport who enjoys meeting new people. Paying attention to training, nutrition and all the other things is serious enough - I want to share my life with as many other people as possible.
TOUR: On the podium, your rivals are just sipping on a glass of beer, whereas you're drinking it up. Your Strava posts show pictures of cake almost every day. Is it also this relaxed attitude that makes you so successful?
Puck Pieterse: Yes, definitely! For me, I need a good balance between focussing on the job and a large portion of relaxation. If I feel happier at home at the end of the day with a cake stop during training, why on earth would I give it up? But of course I can only speak for myself. I will definitely keep up this lovely ritual.
TOUR: In what other areas of life outside of cycling would you like to be successful in the future?
Puck Pieterse: I have been studying Human Movement Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam for the past four years and successfully completed my Bachelor's degree a month ago. In my still young career, I don't really have a plan for afterwards, of course, but I'm particularly interested in the different aspects of training. I could very well imagine working as a coach after my career.
TOUR: Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert have legendary duels, both in cyclo-cross and on the road. Will we see a similar duel between you and cross world champion Fem van Empel in the coming years?
Puck Pieterse: It sometimes gets on your nerves when you're battling with the same person over and over again in all the cross races. But at the end of the day, it's exactly this constellation that makes me better. A rivalry similar to the one between van der Poel and van Aert would of course be cool for women's cycling. Big battles and a high level of performance generally make women's cycling even more fascinating - we saw the best example of this at the 2024 Tour with the seconds thriller between Niewiadoma and Vollering.
TOUR: Can you name any special qualities that are needed to be as successful as you are in all three disciplines?
Puck Pieterse: You need to be very flexible, and not just when it comes to different types of training. The constant switching between different types of bike doesn't make it any easier either. Each bike requires its own specific handling skills.
TOUR: That probably also applies to your training management.
Puck Pieterse: Yes, of course, but contrary to a perhaps widespread opinion, the respective forms of training are not that far apart. They even complement each other really well in some cases. What is clear, however, is that in a year with the Olympics, you have to set a clear focus in training.
TOUR: Speaking of the Olympics: In Paris, you finished an unfortunate fourth after a tyre puncture. Is winning the Olympics on a mountain bike still your big career goal?
Puck Pieterse: Yes, I want to be an Olympic champion in Los Angeles in 2028 and win a few of the important spring classics on the road!
TOUR: In 2023 you only had two race days on the road, this season you've already had 17. Will we see a transformation towards road racing in the next few years, perhaps also because there's more money to be made there?
Puck Pieterse: The road is definitely the supreme discipline with the most attention, but not necessarily the one with the greatest earning potential. At least not for me as a very successful mountain biker. So I don't have to ask myself this question from a financial point of view. But of course the distribution of race days within a season is always a point that we discuss intensively within the team. In the future, however, I see myself primarily on the mountain bike, as I can achieve the most in this discipline. A full road season is therefore unlikely, and cyclocross will have to suffer as it did this season. (Note: Puck Pieterse did not start the cyclocross season until mid-December at the World Cup in Namur).
TOUR: Team Plantur-Pura, Fenix-Deceuninck's predecessor, was your first professional team when you were just 19, and the only one so far. You have agreed an early extension of your contract with the team until 2028. Would it be difficult to reconcile your three passions with another team?
Puck Pieterse: I probably wouldn't find this freedom to be so multidisciplinary in any other team. The team managers, the Roodhooft brothers, deliberately favour versatile riders and are deeply rooted in the sport of cyclocross. I've known them for so long and the mutual trust is huge. There was absolutely no reason for me to try anything else.
TOUR: At the Tour de France Femmes 2024, you produced 250 to 260 watts on the final climb to Alpe d'Huez. With your body weight of 54 kilograms, that corresponds to between 4.6 and 4.8 watts per kilogramme of body weight. What do you still need to be at the front on long climbs like the Tour?
Puck Pieterse: There are certainly several aspects that need to be taken into account when looking at the wattage figures. First of all, I'm happy with my figures up to Alpe d'Huez. They were good, but we already had tough stages with a lot of metres of climbing in our legs. On the final day I felt totally destroyed, I had absolutely nothing left in the tank! What's more, I hadn't actually trained any long mountain intervals at such high intensities in preparation for the Tour. Everything after the spring classics was specifically designed for the Olympic MTB race, that was my focus! Accordingly, I only trained one to four-minute intervals in the hard section. I worked for months for a race that lasts a maximum of one and a half hours. That's why I ran out of steam a little on the long stages in France. However, if I start again next year, I will complete longer endurance rides in the run-up to the race, which will be peppered with intensive intervals towards the end.
TOUR: You are now one of the protagonists in the peloton. Where do you see international women's cycling in the coming years, and what needs to be tweaked the most to further promote the sport?
Puck Pieterse: The general level, but above all the power density, has really exploded in recent years. However, I don't believe that this development will continue exponentially. The structures have to grow slowly. But we definitely need longer races and more stages on tours! And also more women who can ride at such a high level as Vollering and co. But I am very confident. There are many young talents such as Labous, Muzic and Kerbaol who are knocking on the door and will be able to beat Demi Vollering in the near future.
