Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) put two weeks of sickness with the flu behind her and finished runner-up in the cyclo-cross World Cup at Antwerp.
The former cyclocross World Champion was forced to pull out during the World Cup at Terralba two weeks ago due to sickness.
Brand eventually forced a slender gap on the final lap before making mistakes, allowing Alvarado to fight for the victory. However, the Baloise-Glowi Lions rider proved too strong on the final straights and won by two seconds. Alvarado admitted that she was already tired, making beating Brand ‘difficult’ even with her mistakes.
“I had a few difficult weeks behind me,” said Alvarado. “Today, I was a bit stressed because I didn’t know how it would be. In the end it was a very good day.
“I had gone deep from the beginning to the end of the day. It was very tight racing. A bit technical, of course, because of the sand but tactical as well.
“At the end, she [Brand] was, of course, the strongest. It was going to be a bit difficult for me anyway [to win], because my candle went out a bit towards the end.
“I had to hope for a mistake or something from her, which made my chances grow a little more. But even then, I knew it was going to be difficult.”
Alvarado was forced to delay the start of her cyclo-cross season by two months due to persistent knee problems, returning for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup round at Flamanville where she finished third, despite admitting that she ‘suffered a lot’
Having missing last weekend’s World Cup at Namur the Dutch rider was back in action and racing for the win at Antwerp, showing the kind of technical skills which have earned her World Cup wins at Zonhoven and Koksijde in previous years.
When asked what was the difference in the final lap,…
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