'Not an easy choice' – Wiebes confirmed as Netherlands leader for road race at Olympics

Lorena Wiebes will lead the Netherlands team in the elite women’s race at the Paris Olympic Games on August 4.

As he discussed the plan ahead for the summer’s competition, he was not limiting his ambition to just succeeding through Wiebes.

The team was announced earlier in the week, and as well as Wiebes, there is Tour de France winner Demi Vollering, world championship winner and Olympic gold medallist Marianne Vos, and Ellen van Dijk – three-time world champion of the time trial.

Van Dijk and Vollering will enter the individual time trial on July 27, ahead of the women’s race.

“It was not an easy choice,” Gunnewijk added. “The level of the Dutch riders is high. Based on the course, we have developed different scenarios. We looked at the possible course of the race, the time trial and the skills required. These four names belong to that.”

The road race is a 158km race that will start and conclude at the iconic Eiffel Tower, with a circuit of 110km followed by two laps of a 18.4km course.

With the daunting race ahead of them, Gunnewijk detailed the extensive preparation already done.

“We organised team days for this purpose and carried out personality analyses,” she said. “We looked at how they can best use each other’s qualities and how they can strengthen each other in this regard.”