Saturday 25th of March the first race of the year took place. In all three categories we had several Hellingproofers at the start. The kick-off was by our ladies Els, Sigrid and Susan. For Sigrid this was her first race, but she managed to finish. Susan was able to finish in the first group and ended at a nice 5th place.

For the men without license the squad was bigger: Alger, Bart, Bram, Conor, Jorn, Martijn and Thijs. Unfortunately Jorn’s race was done after 2 meters…his cranck broke. The other riders were constantly at the front of the peloton. In the end Thijs managed to get in a breakaway with another rider. In the sprint-a-deux he was able to take the first Hellingproof victory for the season. In the upcoming peloton Bart sprinted to the 3rd place, so we had two riders on the podium. Thijs is now also the first leader of the overall classification.

Last but not least, it was time for the men with license. For Hellingproof Niels, Robin and Ruben were present. From the first meters it was full gas. Niels and Ruben were present in the first breakaway, while Robin remained in the peloton. The breakaway group shrunk more and more, until also for Ruben the speed was just too high. Niels was able to remain in the breakaway and finished 6th. Ruben finished just in front of the peloton, and Robin in the peloton.

After the race we had a nice meal with all students and the trip back to Wageningen could start. We hope to have a similar result next week at our own race.

Race pictures were taken by our member Wim van der Zwaluw.