On Sunday the 26th of july there was a criterium in Amsterdam. The Omloop van IJburg, part of the “Vast Verzet Bokaal“, a serie of crits are carrying out in the Netherlands.
The start line of this criterium was quite impressive. There were the Dutch Crit Cup top regulars riders like Yvo Kinkel, Eric Roelen, Thomas Jacobs, Jan Hoffman, Steffen Heimann, Nathalie Simoens and Michel Francois.
There were also some top riders from Red Hook Crit: Tim Ceresa (8Bar), the young talent Louis Legon (Disorderly Habits), Stefan Vis, Paolo Bravini and Alessandro Bruzza (Team Cinelli Chrome).
The course was 1700m long with 3 corners to the left; the wind was very strong in the open areas which were called Dutch mountains. Welcome to the Netherlands, lol. There were 2 prime laps during the race, the second and tenth. First one was won by Paolo Bravini and the Second one by Bram Linnartz.
During the race Paolo and Bram attacked a few times, until Stefan Vis saw a gap and took over, Bram managed to jumped to his wheel and they rode the rest together alone. Stefan Vis won the sprint, Bram Linnartz was second and Paolo Bravini was third.
For me this was my fourth criterium, my first one was in Criterium Valencia, the second one the Juanitas in Vilanova i la Geltrú and the third one the Kantoikrit in Oñati. This was quite different. There was a lot of wind and we suffered on the straight roads. The first laps Astrid Hübner and I decided to work together and conquer the wind. It wasn’t until the last 6 laps that I managed to ride away and carry on alone.
Men’s podium:
- Stefan Vis
- Bram Linnartz
- Paolo Bravini
Women’s podium:
- Ashley Faye
- Astrid Hübner
- Silje Lian
