Powered by superb teamwork, Thalita de Jong scored an impressive tenth-place finish at the WorldTour Dwars door Vlaanderen one-day classic in Flanders, Belgium, sprinting with the lead group after the 128.8 km race into Waregem.
“I’m very happy with that,” de Jong said at the finish. “We were close in Italy. Two times 14th, so I was hungry for a top ten placing. I’m happy that it worked out. You always want more, but in the end, I can be happy after seeing how many good sprinters there were in my group.”
The 32-year-old was part of a large group of favourites that broke clear over the cobbled Eikenberg climb.
“It was very fast up the Eikenberg. It was hard, and there was a little gap,” explained de Jong. “As Magnus said before the race, ‘get on the big chain ring when it flattens out,’ so I did. Then it was a full-out effort to bridge.”
With 24 km to go, the leading duo of Reusser and Vollering then broke clear, with Lieke Nooijen surging past inside the final kilometer, forcing Vollering to chase. That effort gave Reusser the edge, winning with a bike throw at the line. Behind, de Jong then battled to tenth in the sprint of a group of 16.
“The situation was fluid, but in the last 40k, it was always the same group. Dwars suits me well, and I always have a good result here, even on a different parcours. It suits my style. There are a lot of climbs and repeated efforts, so space to move up.”
During the race, de Jong called on the collective strength of Lily Williams, Marta Jaskulska, Kathrin Schweinberger, Maggie Coles-Lyster and Katia Ragusa to set up the finale.
“The team was really good today. We had a plan before the race, had a good meeting beforehand, and were all committed,” said de Jong. “The girls took care of each other and me, so I felt really comfortable. It was a step up for the whole team towards the next races.”
The teamwork on show breeds confidence going into the Monument Classics, starting with Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.
“We were committed to every key point today, and we were riding well together, so if that’s the case for Sunday, I’m feeling confident,” she explains. “We will try to do this again on Sunday. It’s a very long race, so it will be hard, but we like hard races, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
De Jong even had a special visitor at the Waregem Hippodrome horse race track in the morning, her dog Jente.
“When I saw Jente this morning and my boyfriend, it was great motivation, and she enjoyed seeing the girls and me, so it was super nice. She was a little good luck mascot.”
The team returns to Classics action at the weekend, taking on Belgium’s biggest race, the Tour of Flanders, on April 5.
Dwars door Vlaanderen results
1 REUSSER Marlen – Movistar Team 3:09:12
2 VOLLERING Demi – FDJ United - SUEZ ”
3 NOOIJEN Lieke – Team Visma | Lease a Bike ”
4 BÄCKSTEDT Zoe – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto 0:07
5 JANSEN Eline – VolkerWessels Cycling Team ”
6 FERGUSON Cat – Movistar Team ”
7 KOOL Charlotte – Fenix-Premier Tech ”
8 KOCH Franziska – FDJ United - SUEZ ”
9 SWINKELS Karlijn – UAE Team ADQ ”
10 DE JONG Thalita – Human Powered Health ”
Photos: GettySport and Oskar Scarsbrook
