World champion Fem van Empel hasn’t had everything go her way this season, but on Boxing Day’s sixth round of the 2024-2025 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in muddy Gavere, Belgium, she claimed her seventh victory of 2024-2025. Having missed two rounds, she still trails series leader Lucinda Brand by 56 points. Nico Knoll was top Canadian in 40th.
Preliminaries
Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado was on a roll and claimed two of the last three rounds, the other going to Marie Schreiber, but Alvarado was more interested in the Superprestige title, so she was taking the round off. The amazingly consistent Brand led the series by 31 points over Schreiber and 36 over Alvarado. Puck Pieterse was the best in last year’s Gavere round, but she was still looking for her first win of the season.
The Canadian contingent was a quartet: Lily Rose Marois, Nico Knoll, Mia De Martin and Dorothee Perron.
Schreiber took her traditional hole shot on Lap 1. Nico Knoll was immediately 13th from the start. Van Empel took over the front with Pieterse on her six. Inge van der Heijden fell in the mud and held up Schreiber. Van Empel and Pieterse pulled out a gap. Brand, Zoe Backstedt and Blanka Vas comprised the closest chase. The first 3-km lap was done in 10:16. Knoll was 34th.
Van Empel and Pieterse headed into Lap 2 of 5 with an 11-second lead. Pieterse grabbed the reins but van Empel was better on the first hill. The second hill pried open a gap. The mud flew. First Backstedt lose contact, and then Brand started to drop Vas. Van Empel crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of Pieterse. Knoll was 37th.
Pieterse tried to fight back on the middle lap, but the world champion had a head full of steam. Behind, Vas opened up real estate between her bike and Brand’s, but the series leader returned. Van Empel’s gap was up to 22 seconds. Knoll had sifted down to 49th.
Vas was on the back foot heading into the penultimate lap. A crash from Pieterse put her in Brand’s sights. Brand ran her down and another slip in the mud meant that Pieterse was now in Position 3.
On the bell lap, Pieterse battled back to Brand and then slid into second. Brand countered, trotting past Pieterse. On the long muddy uphill grind, Brand took her leave. Second place increased Brand’s series lead considerably.
The next round is December 29 in…
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