Adam Blythe praises 'amazing' Chantal van den Broek-Blaak for selfless team ride at Paris-Roubaix

Updated 16/04/2022 at 16:55 GMT

Team SD Work's Chantal van den Broek-Blaak was indefatigable in her efforts for her team on Saturday at the Paris-Roubaix's women's race. Her work helped teammated Lotte Kopecky to second place at the event, the second ever, and Adam Blythe praised her for an 'amazing job' after never giving up.

'An amazing job!' - Blythe hails the work of Van den Broek-Blaak at Paris Roubaix

Adam Blythe praised Team SD Worx rider Chantal van den Broek-Blaak for her selfless, 'amazing,' work at Paris-Roubaix.

Saturday saw the second-ever women’s version of the race and it was ultimately won by Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini with a powerful solo effort.

However earlier in the race the outcome was far from certain as Lotte Kopecky, Van den Broek-Blaak’s teammate, Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) and Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) were all in the mix with 30 kilometres remaining. However Longo Borghini launched her own counterattack to seal victory.

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Her lead was assured and she allowed a plus-forty second advantage to be reduced to 22 seconds as Kopecky kept up her challenge in vain. Brand took third place.

Speaking on the Breakaway after the conclusion of the race, Blythe pointed out the constant hard work from Broek-Blaak as she kept in touching distance to keep Kopecky in contention.

“An amazing job,” he said. “She was up there, all the time. The most impressive thing for me, she got dropped at the end from the main group and she was able to get back to it and then rode on the front again.

“She just never gave up and when you do all these big turns you can get a little bit, ‘I’ve done my job,’ but she kept clawing herself back, luckily for [Lotte Kopecky] getting second place. Luckily for them. She kept at it and she’s the kind of teammate you’d want.”

Van den Broek-Blaak finished in eighth, 10 seconds behind her teammate.

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