May 17, 2024
4th Veenendaal – Veenendaal Classic 2024 🇳🇱 (1.1) WE – Veenendaal – Veenendaal : 136,5 km
The Arnhem–Veenendaal Classic (known as Veenendaal–Veenendaal from 1985 until 2006 and The Dutch Food Valley Classic from 2007 until 2013) is a semi classic professional road cycling race in the Netherlands starting and finishing in the town of Veenendaal. The event is part of the UCI Europe Tour calendar of events with a ranking of 1.1. In 2018, a women’s race was added to the programme. The race was classified as a 1.1 UCI race. However, in 2019 the women’s race was removed from the programme again with the organisers citing a lack of availability of police support for the race. In 2022, the women’s race was put back on the cycling calendar and is held on the day before the men’s race.
Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) continued her top form off the back of La Vuelta Femenina, where she finished second overall to Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime), winning the one-day Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic.
Markus soloed to the finish line and won by a slim nine seconds ahead of the bunch sprint won by runner-up Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) and third-placed Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck).
“On the final climb of the Paardenveld, I was eager to give it a try. At first, I was disappointed that I was boxed in for a long time because I thought it would be too short to get away,” Markus said of her strategy at the finish.
“Eventually, I was able to find a gap and got away solo. The peloton was always close behind me, but I knew I had an advantage with the many corners and rainy roads. I just kept going and thought, ‘Let’s see where this ends’. Luckily, I managed to stay away and crossed the finish line solo.”
The elite women’s field raced 136.5km at the Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic, which consisted of four 35-kilometre laps that included the Grebbeberg and Paardenveld climbs.
With 16km to go, a breakaway of seven riders was caught, and shortly after, Markus launched her winning attack on the final 11km to solo to victory.
Results :