Tessa Neefjes Secures Second at the Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk in Denmark!

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Liv Racing Collective athlete Tessa Neefjes achieves a second-place finish at the latest UCI Gravel World Series event in Denmark, despite a setback early on in the race.

Tessa Neefjes of the Liv Racing Collective finishes second at the Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk in Denmark, a UCI Gravel World Series event.The elite course is three laps of the 54km loop that starts and finishes in Blavandshuk on Denmark's east coast. This 162km track features a mix of paved roads, gravel, mud sections, and 2km of sandy shoreline. Neefjes pulled from past experiences at this location to prepare for the race, saying, "From last year I knew this was a flat and in some parts speedy. In the last fast races, I missed some speed opportunities. So at home, on the flat I did a lot of training in the last couple of weeks. It worked out well! In Aachen I made some cadence mistakes, now the speed was feeling good!"

Having won the event last year, Neefjes returned with hopes of defending her title. However, an early peloton crash forced her to lose time and manage technical issues. She spent the next 154km trying to catch up to the leader. "I was involved in a big peloton crash after only 8km, which meant I had to chase. Fortunately, I moved up many positions and enjoyed the cyclo-cross parts of the course. In the end, I managed to close much of the gap and secure a podium spot, but not enough to catch the leader. I'm happy with my performance, but it's a shame I couldn't fully battle for the win."

Neefjes plans to take a rest period before the next UCI Gravel World Series in Singen, Germany, on June 30th. Stay tuned for more action from Liv Racing!

Source:

https://www.liv-cycling.com/global/news/tessa-neefjes-secures-second-at-the-gravel-challenge-blaavands-huk-in-denmark/28899