WORLDTOUR

21-year-old Millie Couzens’ first pro win is no other than the British national road title. She took the victory in Aberystwyth with an impressive sprint where she beat three-time consecutive champion Pfeiffer Georgi.

“I’m so happy, it’s not the way I thought it was going to go, so it’s a good week,” said Couzens in a post race interview. “There was a point when the break had quite a big gap and I was worried, but luckily, I had help from a few other teams and [FENIX-Deceuninck teammate] Flora [Perkins] to help control it a little bit. I’m so grateful for Flora, without her I don’t think we were going to bring them back.”

Couzens’ national titles in both elite and U23 categories come three days after she claimed the U23 individual time trial jersey.

Her FENIX-Deceuninck teammate Carina Schrempf also delivered a strong performance, finishing in third place. Both are expected to race on the Austrian national road championships, which will take place on June 29th.

Austrian rider Christina Schweinberger was crowned, for the second time in her career, national time trial title champion. The 28-year-old completed the 25.4-km-long circuit in Frauenkirchen in 31 minutes and 39 seconds.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about which wheels to use before the race, because the wind was definitely a decisive factor. We took a risk, and it paid off. After the turn, I still had some reserves, and I was able to make the most of them,” said Schweinberger in a post-race interview. “My goal was today’s time trial title. Now I can go into Sunday’s race completely without pressure. I’m not the fastest sprinter, but with the Giro in mind, it’s perfect preparation.”

Her FENIX-Deceuninck teammate Carina Schrempf also delivered a strong performance, finishing in third place. Both are expected to race on the Austrian national road championships, which will take place on June 29th.

Puck Pieterse took her first Spring Classic victory in in her début at La Flèche Wallonne Femmes. After conquering Mur de Huy, the 22-year-old FENIX-Deceuninck rider won by launching a powerful and impressive late attack 150 meters from the finish line.

“I went to the Mur in fourth or fifth position and saw [Juliette] Labous working really hard to give a good pace to for Demi [Vollering], and then I decided to move into their wheel. I had to wait, and wait. I kept thinking, if I’m hurting, they are hurting as well. And at around 150 meters to go, I planned my attack to stay clear,” she explained after the race, adding “I think I did everything well this race, I attacked where everybody says you have to attack, so I listened to my sports directors for a change.”

Her victory, the first of the 2025 road seasons, was special. “Last year, I won a stage in the Tour [de France] but to win a Spring Classic is, of course, maybe even bigger,” Puck said.

Mathieu Van der Poel made history by winning Paris-Roubaix for the third time in a row. With an incredible solo attack 60 km from the finish, he crossed the line alone in the legendary Roubaix Velodrome.

“I never could have dreamt of this as a child,” Van der Poel reflected in a post race interview. “I was super motivated for this year. I wanted to show the jersey in a nice way but yeah, this goes beyond expectations and I’m a bit lost for words actually.”

Despite a bottle thrown at him during the race, he stayed focused and showed the strength of a true champion by conquering the Hell of the North. This victory confirms his place among the greatest riders in history and highlights the strong teamwork of all the Alpecin-Deceuninck.

The fourth edition of Binche Chimay Binche pour Dames finished with a bunch sprint which saw Christina Schweinberger crossing the finish line second. Her FENIX-Deceuninck teammate Marthe Truyen was fifth.

The 117.2-km-long course is known for its final climb along the famously cobbled Rue de la Pepinière, which must be completed less than a kilometer before its also cobbled finish. The race, held between the Belgian cities if Binche and Chimay in Wallonia, is one of the last dates in the road calendar.

“A bronze medal feels so good after a year with more downs then ups!”, wrote Julie de Wilde on an Instagram post after taking the third place in Individual Time Trial at the World Championships in the U23 category. 

The Belgian rider completed the 29.9 km-long Swiss course from Gossau to Zürich in 42 minutes and 37 seconds.   

“I want to thank my team, the national team, and everybody who’s close to me for keeping the confidence. This performance gives me some extra motivation for this week to go all-in another time!”, said de Wilde. 

She will be competing again on Saturday September 28, when she will represent Belgium in the World Championships Road Race. 

Belgium won its first-ever medal in the team time trial mixed relay at the 2024 European Championships with a third-place finish. And FENIX-Deceuninck rider Marion Norbert-Riberolle is one of the six riders who made it possible. 

The mixed relay is one the lesser-known road events. It was introduced for the first time in 2019 for both World and European Championships. Each competing country has a team of six riders, three men and three women which will take turns to do a part of the course. The time recorded is the sum of the one done by the men and the women riders. 

The Belgian men’s trio was composed by Edward Theuns, Noah Vandenbranden, and Victor Vercouillie, while the women’s were Alana Castrique, Jesse Vandenbulcke and Norbert-Riberolle.  They finished third behind Italy and Germany, which won the gold and the silver, medals. 

Austrian Christina Schweinberger won the bronze medal in the individual time trial at the 2024 European Championships in Hasselt, Belgium. The FENIX-Deceuninck rider completed the 31.2 km course in 40 minutes and 2 seconds. 

“It feels good. This year wasn’t going so smooth, so I’m really happy with the podium finish. I was a bit nervous before starting but it was also a good motivation. Lotte (Kopecky) was unbeatable, I knew that before, but I gave my best and I’m happy to have gotten the medal,” said Schweinberger in a post-race interview.  

“I think I started a bit fast. I invested more at the beginning, maybe too much, so I lost a bit in the end. In the last kilometer, it was full on head wind, and it felt never-ending. But compared with other ITTs of that length like Glassgow last year, it passed much faster. It a was a good course and I’m happy.” 

The European Championships ITT was won by Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) while Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) took the silver. 

Schweinberger is now looking forward to the Road World Championships, which will take place in Zurich, Switzerland from September 21st until 29th. The Austrian rider is expected to compete in both the ITT and the road races.  

What a great day for Puck Pieterse! On the same day, the FENIX-Deceuninck Dutch rider won stage 4 of Tour the France Femmes, earned the polka-dots jersey as the best climber and the white jersey as the leader of the youth classification. Moreover, it’s her first-ever victory on a World Tour road race.

The stage four of Tour de France Femmes was a very intense,  122,7 km-long race. The course went through two countries: from Valkenburg, in the Netherlands, to the city of Liège, in Belgium. Puck Pieterse won the stage in a final harsh sprint ahead of yellow jersey Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).

“It’s unbelievable, actually. The last few days I had super-good legs, and today I didn’t feel my legs at all. To take the win here in a sprint against Demi, that’s really a dream come true,” said Pieterse.

FENIX-Deceuninck rider Christina Schweinberger finished the final time trial of the season with a second place at the Chrono des Nations in Les Herbiers, France. The 27.23 km course was won by fellow Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer by one second.

Schweinberger’s 2023 season was several podiums, especially during ITTs. In this specialty, the 26-year-old Austrian rider obtained the third place at the European Continental Championship, and the second at both the World Championships and the National Championships Austria.