Mixed feelings for Marianne Vos after missing Paris-Roubaix Femmes podium

It was a mixture of disappointment and pride for Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the finish of Saturday’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift. Once again, Vos narrowly missed out on victory in the velodrome, but arguably she came closer than ever before.

After infiltrating the elite group, Vos was clearly motivated to try to add a cobblestone trophy to her collection but had to settle for fourth as she faded in the final sprint.

“Of course it's nice to be there up in the final and to fight for the victory, but then fourth place is a little disappointing I have to admit,” Vos said at the finish, balanced after having time to collect her thoughts.

“But I'm also proud about the race and how we raced as a team. Tomorrow I will look back with a bigger smile than today probably.”

Read more: Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift – Lotte Kopecky sprints to a narrow victory in the velodrome

On paper, Vos would have been expected to be a shoe-in for a podium spot from the lead group, perhaps not a better sprinter than Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) but fairly evenly matched with eventual winner Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime). However, at the end of a race as physically challenging as Roubaix, those assumptions mean less.

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Vos was one of the strongest on the day but came up short when it matter most: on the velodrome finish

“I think in the end everybody just tries to do the best sprint they have,” she said of the finale. “Maybe I came in a bit early with Balsamo, and then Kopecky just came with a lot more speed so she was fastest in the sprint.

Despite saying before the race that she didn’t view Paris-Roubaix as a gap in her palmarès, it is clear that a win here would round out her already extraordinary achievements. With second behind Lizzie Deignan three years ago and fourth on Saturday in a closer situation, she has come close, but just needs to work out a situation in which she can finally take victory.

“I don't think I was so far off, so just try and keep it up like this,” Vos answered when asked how she could win here. “Of course, you have to be a little bit lucky. Today I didn't get into a crash or whatever so that was already a win for Paris-Roubaix, you have to say, but of course it's difficult to win. Everybody wants to win, so I'm quite happy that I was there in the final and able to fight for the win, and I hope to be in this situation again next year.”

In any other race – or for any other rider – the disappointment in the velodrome may have been more palpable, but for a rider as composed as Vos and in a race like Roubaix where even getting to the finish is an achievement, that feeling is balanced with the reality of what a challenge the race is.

“It is hard. It's actually already hard before you hit the cobbles because then it's positioning and there's this tension in the bunch that you probably don't feel from the sidelines, but in the bunch, it's quite high and it's positioning before the cobbles and when you enter them,” she said of the difficult race.

“We were quite lucky with the weather I guess, because it could have been worse if we looked at the conditions of the last week in the preparation. So it is hard and in the end of course you feel the legs as well.”

Despite not taking the win on Saturday, Vos has enjoyed one of her best springs for a few seasons, with wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen, as well as strong results elsewhere as she returns to her top level. The campaign is not quite over yet, and she will be in action again at Amstel Gold Race next weekend, which she won in 2021.

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