Sunday’s ninth round of the 2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in snowy, sandy Zonhoven, Belgium had a final lap plot twist. Just when it looked like it was the same old song with Lucinda Brand about to romp to victory, the series leader erred and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado took over, snapping Brand’s thirteen-race winning streak. It was Alvarado’s first win in the Big Three series after four podiums. Nico Knoll was top Canadian in 35th.
Earlier in the day in the Junior women’s race, Alexa Haviland, second in Saturday’s Superprestige round, came fifth; Elly Moore was eighth; Clare Hauber finished twelfth; and Claire Mackinnon placed 20th.
Preliminaries
As with the X2O Badkamers Trofee series, Brand was far ahead in the GC after claiming seven of the first eight rounds. Aniek van Alphen, winner of the Flamanville round, was 72 points behind, and new Pauwels Sauzen rider Amandine Fouquenet was trailing by 122 points. Canada’s Sidney McGill had finished six rounds and sat in 26nd overall.
The Canadian contingent was a crack quintet: Siobhan Kelly, Nico Knoll, Katja Verkerk (Cynisca Cycling) and Dorothee Perron.
Puck Pieterse got off to a good start on Lap 1. Leonie Bentveld lurked behind her with Brand in Position 3. Fouquenet, victor in Saturday’s Gullegem Superprestige, struggled at the very beginning. Pieterse, Brand and Alvarado sprang ahead of the others but all three crashed in the sandy descent. In fact, the sandy descent continued to take victims behind. Pieterse, Brand, Alvarado, van Alphen and Bentveld then formed an elite quintet.
Pieterse spurted clear and went into Lap 2 of 6 nine seconds ahead of Bentveld, 16 seconds before Brand, with Alvarado and van Alphen in between. Brand went to the front of the chase and drove hard, Alvarado on her six. Puck had her ears pinned back. Shirin van Anrooij endeavoured to join her teammate Brand. Brand and Alvarado were 11 seconds back at the line. Nico Knoll was 31st.
Brand started to edge closer on Lap 3. Alvarado toiled to keep up. The trio came together midway through the circuit. Pieterse crashed and Brand slipped around her. Puck had to play catch up.
Brand was gone. The drama seemed to have been extracted from the race and it was business as usual. Puck went deep on Lap 4 to find teammate Alvarado’s wheel, but kept fading back…
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