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.