Puck Pieterse can do it all.
A multiple world cup winner on her cross-country mountain bike. The same on her cyclocross bike. And now, a stage winner and white jersey winner on the road at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. At the age of 22, she has the cycling world at her feet.

About Puck Pieterse

Date of birth
13th May 2002
Nationality
Netherlands
Hometown
Amersfoort
  • Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2024
    Stage + white jersey
  • European XC MTB Champion
    2022 + 2023
  • Cyclocross World Cup Wins
    7x

Racing

Team
Alpecin-Fenix
Discipline
Road, Mountainbike, Cyclocross
“It’s not like I’m chasing glory or anything. For now, it’s just to see how far I can push myself.”
Puck Pieterse


Behind the athlete

Puck Pieterse is a unique young star in the cycling world.
On the cyclocross bike, she has seven world cup wins and a national title. On the mountain bike she has four world cup wins, a national title, and two European titles. And since 2024, she has been dipping her toe into the waters of road racing too – to immediate success.
How does she manage to combine all three disciplines, and stay at the very top of them? According to her Fenix-Deceuninck sports director Michel Cornelisse, it’s her competitive spirit that sets the 22-year-old apart.
“When Puck participates, she only wants one thing, and that is to win,” he says. “If we’re playing chess or table tennis at the hotel – anything at all – she simply has to win."
For Puck, it’s all about going on a journey of self-improvement: “I just want to see how far I can push myself. For example, when I have training intervals, I get nervous beforehand because I want to get my best numbers every time. It’s not like I’m chasing glory or anything, for now it’s just for myself and how far I can go.”
Puck Pieterse

Speed with a smile

Puck is fast becoming a fan favourite, not just for her exciting racing style and talent, but for her light-hearted nature and fun personality.
She celebrated winning the European title in 2022 with a one-handed wheelie across the line, an extremely difficult skill that only a few can master. Her social media is full of clips of her pulling the trick up mountain passes, and she’s also one of the only riders in the women’s cyclocross peloton able to bunnyhop the barriers, rather than run over them.
At the races before and after, she’s always joking and playing too – with both teammates and rivals. It’s her way of taking the pressure off until the very last moment: “Before the races I really try to keep it as calm as possible for myself. I compete best when I’m smiling and happy.”
Puck Pieterse

Where next?

Coming into the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Puck had spent all her prior preparation for the cross-country mountain bike race at the Olympics, so expectations were low.
On stage four, she blew everything out of the water, however, with a stunning stage victory, after managing to match the sport’s two great stars, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, up the climbs on a Liege-Bastogne-Liege style stage, before outsprinting them to the line.
"It's quite unbelievable, actually. To take the win here, in a sprint against Demi is a dream come true," she said.
Taking over the white jersey for best placed young rider, Puck managed to hold on in the mountains – her first time competing at high altitude on the road – all the way to the finish. It was a sensational debut at not just her first Tour de France, but her first ever elite stage race.
“It's really cool. Today was one of my hardest days on the bike that I have ever had. I really found my limits today, but I’m proud of my fight this week and how I’ve raced. I think I’ve done a lot of things right," she said.
As for the future, not even Puck knows what she’ll do: “Maybe I’ll stay on the mountain bike for a few more years. Maybe I’ll come back next year already for the Tour. I don’t know.”
Whatever she does, we can’t wait to watch the ride.
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