She did everything she needed to do, and on Saturday’s final round of the 2025-2026 Superprestige, the Noordzeecross in Middelkerke, Belgium, revelation of the season Amandine Fouquenet overcame a seven-point deficit to tie Aniek van Alphen atop the series table and take with the day’s prize, her third round of the season. But van Alphen was awarded the title because she had started all eight rounds and Fouquenet started seven.
Preliminaries
Without a round triumph in her pocket, van Alphen led the general classification, double round winner Fouquenet a very doable seven points behind in second. In their last meeting at Worlds, Fouquenet had come fifth and van Alphen 14th. Inge van der Heijden not only won last year’s Middelkerke round, she also claimed this season’s European championship on the same course in November.
World U23 champion Leonie Bentveld claimed the hole shot, Fouquenet pushing past notorious Worlds-shover Marion Norbert Riberolle into Position 2. Fouquenet powered into the lead and van Alphen kept her within shouting distance. Fouquenet was the only rider who pitted, but she took a nine-second lead into the second lap.
Van Alphen was fifth on Lap 2 of 6, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Riberolle and Marie Schreiber between her and rival Fouquenet. Alvarado distinguished herself as the closest pursuer. Van Alphen pitted. Alvarado trailed Fouquenet by 17 seconds and rode eight seconds ahead of Riberolle.
On Lap 3, van Alphen slipped down to ninth, Fouquenet’s teammate Bentveld and Helene Clauzel the riders who slipped by her. Alvarado closed in on the French leader.
A big bump on Lap 4 popped off Alvarado’s sunglasses. Fouquenet still held a 15-second gap. Van Alphen was ninth and needed teammate Annemarie Worst’s help.
Van Alphen was desperate on the penultimate lap, watching her title disappear. Second overall in both the World Cup and the Superprestige was disappointing at the end of a long season. Alvarado wouldn’t relent in her chase.
On the bell lap, Alvarado crowded Fouquenet. Worst and van Alphen turned themselves inside out. Everyone was bushed. Fouquenet had to get through the whoops cleanly. It would be Alvarado who made a mistake. Fouquenet…
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