Lucinda Brand put her recent struggles at the National Championships behind her with a vengeance to claim the victory in trademark decisive solo style at the Benidorm round of the World Cup series.
Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado eventually clinched second, some 10 seconds back, after a prolonged struggle against French duo Amandine Fouquenet, finally third, and recently crowned National Champion Célia Gery.
Brand, though, was simply unstoppable, putting her relatively disappointing third place in the Dutch Nationals behind Alvarado – the first time she’d finished outside the top two this winter – behind her with her 18th win and eighth World Cup of the 25-26 season.
“In the beginning, everyone was waiting and watching. I knew I was better on the diagonal sections, but then you have to be in the lead. In the second half, I decided to make it tough because there was too much hesitation,” Brand said afterwards in statements reported by Sporza.be.
How it unfolded
A sunny day in Benidorm’s fast but grippy six lap course through the Foietes city park and the El Moralet forest park was hit early on by a crash, but the main favourites moved to the front all the same. The ever-aggressive Amandine Fouquenet, one of the top names of the season, was amongst them, forcing the pace on the first lap, although the speed meant the gaps were minimal at the head of the race, with Shirin van Anrooj heading a small group of chasers less than five seconds behind.
Come the uphill drag to the finish, Fouquenet’s advantage was minimal, and on the second lap, there was the first of multiple changes of leaders as Brand dragged a four-rider group clear, containing Blanka Vas, Célia Géry and Fouquenet, with Alvarado chasing hard behind. Try as she might, though, Alvarado was not favoured by the only partially dry course and it was only when Kristyna Zemanová bridged across that seven riders regrouped on the front.
Zemanová then promptly launched a huge attack on the third lap, the Czech National Champion pulling Vas with her. But the course was so fast that the gaps remained minimal yet…
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