The 2025-2026 Superprestige series reached its midway point on Saturday with the fourth round in Marksplas, Belgium, the Aardbeiencross or Strawberry Cross. Inge van der Heijden clung tenaciously to the series lead before it sees a significant recess, while Lucinda Brand earned her sixth triumph of the season. Surprise–it was another all-Dutch podium.
Preliminaries
Although Lucinda Brand has an early stranglehold on the X2O Badkamers Trofee, the Superprestige has been pretty open, with the series lead changing hands from Marion Norbert Riberolle to Sara Casasola (both out injured) to European champion van der Heijden, who came runner-up to Brand in the third round.
Leonie Bentveld led onto the fairly dry course before Amandine Fouquenet took over. Van der Heijden pulled along a sharp little group that also contained Brand and Manon Bakker. The French champion blazed a trail through the sand. The first 2.9-km circuit was rolled in 7:49.
With Brand and Aniek van Alphen chasing, van der Heijden and Bentveld tried to drop Fouquenet at the start of Lap 2 of 6. Brand picked her way through to Position 3, creating a trio with van der Heijden and Bentveld. Fouquenet had to hustle to stay in the picture. Van Alphen was only four seconds back at the line, Fouquenet +0:14.
Van Alphen latched on early in Lap 3. Bentveld wanted the front. The French rider kept up a dogged pursuit. Van Alphen was the only rider who bunny hopped the planks, allowing her to get to the business end of the race, but Brand punched through the sand to take over.
Brand went into Lap 4 with a four-second gap. Van der Heijden powered the pursuit. Soon Brand was out of sight and Bentveld began to lag. Eleven seconds was the lead going into the penultimate circuit.
On the penultimate lap, van der Heijden came a cropper, falling onto a metal fence. Now she was Position 4, Bentveld’s companion.
The seperations to Brand at the start of the bell lap: van Alphen +0:11, van der Heijden +0:16, Bentveld +0:23. None of the four switched changed places on the final circuit. Brand raised her hands for the sixth time in the 2025-2026 calendar. Van der Heijden is still tops, but only by a single point over van Alphen. Brand looms six points back.
The Superprestige series now takes a long…
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