Charlotte Kool wins Simac Ladies Tour Opening Prologue

Charlotte Kool got the Simac Ladies Tour off to a perfect start with an impressive victory in the opening prologue. Kool raced around the short, fast two point four kilometre course around Ede in a time of three minutes and four seconds, four seconds faster than the next rider.

Kool’s victory was made even more impressive given it was her first race back in a month, showing that she’s picking up from where she left off earlier this summer.

Elise Uijen set an early fast time, placing in the top three at the time of crossing the line, before teammate Pfeiffer Georgi also set a top five provisional time at the finish. Kool then blasted through the finish with the fastest time and no one was able to get near her.

She now leads the race overall heading into tomorrow’s second stage, a fast and predominantly flat 139.1 kilometre around Gennep presenting another opportunity for Kool and the team.

After the finish, Charlotte Kool said: “It was really a team effort, the team did everything perfect in preparation. We prepare all year for this kind of prologue and TTs. Today Kelvin and Albert both gave some good feedback about corners and the course. The staff have perfectly fixed for the pre-race preparations and cooling down. It’s really one for the team and I’m really happy to take the first win after not racing for a month. It’s a really good way to start the race.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Kelvin Dekker added: “As a team we spend a lot of time on TTs and everyone puts in a lot of effort – the experts we have on position, aerodynamics, but also training and preparation. The girls get a lot of energy from this so today we were ready to smash it.

“For Charlotte we know that this was a big chance. She’s had it in mind for a few weeks and has spent some time getting used to doing corners really quickly, something we worked on as a team too. It was really impressive to see how she took the corners today with full confidence. When she went down the ramp we knew it would be super fast but to win by 4 seconds is a big victory for her, really prestigious against these names. But it’s also a big victory for the team and for everyone who invests time in our TT setup. It’s great to give something back to all those people with a big victory like this.”