Marianne Vos became cyclocross world champion for the eighth time in her career on Saturday. In the American Fayetteville, the 34-year-old cyclist was too strong in the sprint for fellow frontrunner and outgoing world champion Lucinda Brand. Italy’s Silvia Persico avoided an all-Dutch podium by taking the bronze, ahead of Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado.
Vos and Brand were in the lead together for almost the entire race. Attempts to shake off each other were unsuccessful, causing the game to end in a sprint. Vos chose Brand’s wheel in the last lap and only passed her competitor when she entered the asphalted finish line, on her way to her eighth world title. Vos was last allowed to call herself the best in the world in 2014, when she became world champion in Hoogerheide in Noord-Brabant.
Behind Vos and Brand, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado seemed to have a good chance at the bronze, until she slipped her bike on the last lap and saw the Italian Persico ride away from her. At the finish, she barely kept her compatriots Yara Kasteleijn and Manon Bakker behind. With Inge van der Heijden in ninth place, all six Dutch participants finished in the top-10.