In two days, Canadian Junior national champion Rafaelle Carrier won consecutive Junior World Cup races. On Sunday Carrier piled up points at the top of Junior classification over French rider Lison Desprez, who was runner-up in the sixth round of the 2024-2025 UCI CX World Cup in Zonhoven, Belgium.
In the elite women’s race, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado battled Lucinda Brand and Zoe Backstedt to claim the day’s top honours and her second World Cup of the season. Canada’s Bella Holmgren raced to 12th. Sister Ava was ninth on the penultimate lap when she crashed hard and did not finish. Lucinda Brand kept the series lead.
Preliminaries
Luxembourger Marie Schreiber was still sky high after her big win in Saturday’s fifth round in Hulst, the Netherlands. For the second World Cup in row, Brand came second and Puck Pieterse placed third. Brand led Schreiber by 25 points at the top of the standings. Pieterse claimed last year’s Zonhoven round.
Ava Holmgren had raced to 15th and sister Bella to 20th in Hulst. They were joined by Sidney McGill, Katja Verkerk, Christiane Bilodeau, Katelyn Walcroft, Mia De Martin and Dorothee Perron in the Canadian contingent.
Schreiber and Zoe Backstedt led out the pack into the sand on Lap 1. Lucinda Brand was lurking nearby. Backstedt pulled out a gap on the sandy descent. Brand led the chase with Annemarie Worst and Blanka Vas just behind. Worst stayed on her bike where Brand and Vas had to kick and became the closest pursuer. Ava was 14th, Isabella was 29th and McGill 34th.
On Lap 2 Alvarado and Inge van der Heijden came charging through the stream. Worst crashed hard and had to abandon. Backstedt’s gap grew to 22 seconds over Brand and van der Heijden at the line. Ava was 11th, Isabella 22nd and McGill 37th.
Lap 3 of 6 saw Backstedt hop on a fresh machine. Ava moved past French rider Helene Clauzel into the top 10 before slipping around Manon Bakker. Alvarado and Vas strove to join Brand and van der Heijden. Backstedt had 16 seconds at the midpoint. Ava was 9th, Isabella 15th and McGill 39th.
Brand left van der Heijden and Alvarado behind on Lap 4 as the rain began to tip down. Brand made the junction just after the sandy drop and then dropped the Brit. Backstedt came back and turned the tables. In fact, Alvarado…
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