Puck Pieterse wins the women's Short Track in Crans Montana

The Crans Montana World Cup has debuted the elite category with the women's Short Track race and there Puck Pieterse has taken the victory after an intense race that was decided by technique and power.

Pieterse wins the Short Track of the Crans Montana World Cup

The rain and mud had made the demanding Crans Montana track even more exciting. A narrow 1.5 km course, with very demanding climbs that the cyclists had to complete 5 laps at maximum speed.

The race started with the major absences of Swiss Jolanda Neff, world champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot, American Savilia Blunk, and Jenny Rissved. But as soon as the traffic light turned green, the level was as high as usual.

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Italian Chiara Teochi (Orbea Factory Racing) once again took the lead of the race from the starting line, but Dutch Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuinck) did not want to give her an inch of advantage and stayed with her from the very beginning.

Unlike other circuits, in Crans Montana the track narrowed and entered the forest very early, causing the group to break up quickly but without major advantages.

At the beginning of lap 2, a leading group was formed with Teochi, Pieterse, Swiss Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon), and French Lecomte (CLLCTV).

The circuit was playing tricks and for the first time in the World Cup we were lucky to see a very exciting Short Track that combined technique and power equally. A much more entertaining equation for the audience and one that the cyclists had to manage very differently from the rest of the Short Tracks.

In lap 3, Teochi fell behind in a chasing group and Pieterse took advantage to launch an attack to see if she could get rid of Lecomte and Keller if she kept it up. It didn't happen.

The penultimate lap started with Pieterse leading a group with Keller and Lecomte, joined by Anne Tauber (OFR) and Gwendalin Gibson from the Trek team. But at the beginning of the climb, Pieterse increased the pace again and pulled away alone at the front.

The demonstration of technique and power was absolute on the part of the Dutch Puck Pieterse.

The bell for the last lap rang at the fifth lap and that's when Anne Tauber launched an unexpected attack that put her in the lead, forcing Pieterse to respond with a tremendous effort that allowed her to overtake Tauber and take the lead on her own.

The race intensified in the battle for second and third place, but no one could beat Pieterse.

Puck Piterserse won big in the Short Track at Crans Montana. Swiss Alessandra Keller took silver with a second place that she won in a sprint against Anne Tauber, who finished third.