Fem van Empel extends winning streak at Maasmechelen Cyclocross World Cup

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World Champion Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) extended her cyclocross winning streak with another dominant solo display at the first European World Cup round in Maasmechelen. The Dutchwoman made it five wins from five races for the 2023-24 season and ten in a row if added to her wins from the start of the year. 

"Today was quite hard, especially the first lap. My start was good and it went well but the feeling was not great on the first lap," said Van Empel. "But after the second lap, it went quite well so I'm happy with the rest of the race." 

Despite a change in course, Van Empel defended her win from 2022, albeit in a less thrilling race than last year, with the likes of Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Shirin van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions) absent from the start line as they recover back to form.

Van Empel set the tone from the gun, exploding off the start line into first with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as her closest competitor. Unfortunately, no battle would play out as Alvarado suffered an off-camera crash on the second lap that ended her challenge for the win. 

The World Champion would only extend her lead at the front, consistently riding parts of the course where others were forced to dismount and highlighting her superior talents in the discipline as she cruised to her second World Cup win of the season. 

Alvarado came home for second after recovering well from her crash with Aniek van Alphen (Cyclocross Reds) in third for her first-ever elite World Cup podium at 24 years old.

How It Unfolded

Van Empel escaped the chaos of the start with a typically explosive launch off the start line, as crashes behind ruined the chances of Annemarie Worst (Cyclocross Reds) and Manon Bakker (Crelan-Dorendon) from fighting for the podium. 

The World Champion’s superiority was evident from the first lap as one of the only riders able to bunny hop the wooden hurdles on the course, forcing Alvarado to react as Marie Schreiber (SD Worx) began to lose Van Empel’s wheel. 

Alvarado appeared the only equal to Van Empel’s strength, spurred on by her first victory of the season at yesterday’s Superpresitge in Ruddervoorde. 

Van Empel continued to apply the pressure in pole position, powering into the sand and ramp sections and she was suddenly alone as the second lap developed, with the cameras exposing a bloodied knee for Alvarado who had been down hard. 

It later turned out that she broke her shoe in the fall and had to ride easy for a lap and a half to ride out the pain, ruining any hope of a thrilling battle at the head of racing. 

This was the defining moment of the race as the only rider possibly able to keep up with Van Empel lost 20 to 30 seconds in a flash, leaving the World Champion alone to build a big advantage. 

Alvarado’s race ended up being against Van Alphen, who rode well but eventually wasn’t able to stay with the former World Champion as the six-lap race entered its final stages. 

Van Empel arrived at the finish line in Maasmechelen alone after 51 minutes of racing, able to hold up her hand with five digits on show, the number of wins she’s taken this season. Her eventual winning margin was 1:28 from Alvarado. 

The likes of Van Empel and Alvarado will now gear up for the upcoming European Championships next weekend in Pontchâteau, with the famous Koppenbergcross acting as the perfect warm-up on Wednesday as the X2O Trofee series kicks off.

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