“I don’t know what to feel yet,” said Marianne Vos as she exited the Stab Velodrome, the indoor venue just across the road from the outdoor track, where a golden opportunity to win Paris-Roubaix Femmes had just slipped through her fingers. Her press conference had taken place well over an hour after the finish of the race, and although she insisted that “tomorrow will be Monday again”, you sense it will take a good while longer to process this one.
Vos was crestfallen at the finish line. The sinking devastation was writ large in eyes that welled with tears. There were smiles, and there were positives and pride to be taken, but the disappointment came in waves, and there were several moments where she struggled to fight back the tears.
This was a gut punch because the race, one that was only created late in her illustrious career and one she’d so dearly love to conquer before it’s all done, was in the palm of her hand. Visma-Lease a Bike had a two-on-one advantage in the finale, Vos joined by teammate and defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot as they took on Franziska Koch. Even when Vos entered the velodrome with Koch, she was heavily favoured to finish fastest, but the German pulled off one of the big shocks of recent memory.
And then there was the underlying emotion, which was always going to seep out. Vos’ father died last week, and it was doubtful whether she’d be here at all, let alone in a position to win the race.
“We miss him, calling him, having small WhatsApp messages, or a picture, or whatever. But in a way… you just try and focus on what you have to do,” Vos said.
“I just wanted to try and make the best of the preparation under the circumstances. I was also just very happy to be here because it’s one of the most beautiful races of the season. Even though I knew it might not be the perfect preparation, I just wanted to give everything I had today.
"It’s an in-between feeling, which is a weird feeling. Maybe one day it will be closer to one or another. I don’t know what to feel yet."
Tactics
The disappointment was tinged with a slight sense of regret in terms of how the race played out tactically.
“If you look back, there’s always things you can do differently. That’s bike racing. You have to make decisions on the spot, in the moment,” Vos said.
Two teammates occupying the bottom steps of the podium is never the greatest look, and it was notable that the Visma duo, with the chasers over a minute behind inside the last 10 kilometres, did not try to work over Koch with a series of one-two punches.
Ferrand-Prévot did attack after coming back from being dropped late on, but otherwise, they leaned heavily on setting up a sprint for Vos.
“It was a conscious decision not to do that, to save the legs for the sprint. But in the end, it was still not enough,” Vos told Cyclingnews after the podium ceremony.
“That was Pauline’s own decision. She was really all-in [for me]. I’m very thankful for her dedication and her help. That’s an extra reason, so I feel a bit sorry for the team and for her. But she was the first one to say we should be proud of what we did, so I’ll try and see it that way too.”
Once in the velodrome, Vos, whose finishing speed has won her countless races in the past, allowed Koch to open the sprint and looked to be overhauling her before the German found a final kick to win it by an agonisingly tight margin.
"Maybe in hindsight, we should have done things differently, but I've also been starting my sprint too early here [in the past]. Every year is a learning year,” Vos told the TV cameras.
"Of course, it's not a normal sprint. It's after a hard race, after these cobbled sections. It's just the one who has the best legs left. It wasn't me today.”
Through the digestion of all the post-race emotion, Vos, classy to a fault, repeatedly praised Koch, ensuring she was painted not as a shock winner but a completely worthy one.
“It’s also good to recognise how strong she was. She just found that out herself, I think,” Vos said.
“She attacked herself on the last uphill part, and she dropped Pauline there, and then she did an amazing finish. We saw a fantastic bike rider today winning Paris-Roubaix.”
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