Cyclocross rider Fem van Empel has won the fourteenth and final World Cup race in Hoogerheide. For the 21-year-old world champion from Sint-Michielgestel, it was her seventeenth victory of the season. Next Saturday she will defend her world title in Tabor, Czech Republic.
Van Empel increased the pace immediately after the start and initially only saw Dutch champion Lucinda Brand follow. Puck Pieterse, normally often near the world champion, had been ill and was not having a good day. In the final phase, the Hungarian Kata Blanka Vas joined the leading pair. Van Empel placed her attack on the stairs shortly before the finish. “Blanka and Lucinda were very strong and I knew I had to be the first to turn onto the asphalt,” the winner looked back. “All I could do was run up those stairs as fast as I could.”
Second place went to the Hungarian, Brand finished third. The overall victory in the World Cup went to Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. The Rotterdam from Alpecin-Deceuninck was already certain of victory and, probably hampered by back problems, finished fifteenth.
World Cup in Tabor
Fem van Empel will defend her title at the World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, on Saturday. “It obviously feels good to win twice a week before the World Cup. It has been an incredible season so far, I hope that Saturday will be the icing on the cake,” the 21-year-old top favorite said in the flash interview. She travels to Tabor early in the week. “I’m going to explore the course well and then it’s a matter of staying healthy and hoping that everything falls into place on Saturday.”
Van Empel had won a cross in Hamme, Belgium last Saturday. “I chose to attack because I wanted to ride at my own pace. Halfway through the race I heard the speaker announce the time differences. From that moment on I started thinking about Sunday’s cross. That will also be very tough,” she said at the time. .
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