Lucinda Brand padded her World Cup lead by winning Sunday’s ninth round of the 2024-2025 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in rainy, muddy Dendermonde, Belgium. Brand didn’t wallow in mire in taking her seventh victory of the season and second World Cup triumph. At 33rd Nico Knoll was top Canadian in the slop.
Preliminaries
In the previous round at Besançon, France, Fem van Empel won her eighth race of the campaign and runner-up Brand increased her lead atop the classification to 46 points. Puck Pieterse was coming off her first win of the season at Koksijde. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado was last season’s Dendermonde champion.
The Canadian contingent consisted of Nico Knoll, Aislin Hallahan, Mia De Martin, Christiane Bilodeau and Dorothee Perron.
Leonie Bentveld, prominent at the start of Saturday’s Superprestige race, claimed the hole shot on Lap 1. Immediately the pack hit mud and Brand cut to the front. Pieterse slotted into Position 2. Van Empel and Alvarado didn’t have great starts. Brand and Puck toiled through the slop with Zoe Backstedt and Manon Bakker in pursuit. Brand led Pieterse and Backstedt over the line, the first 2.565-km lap completed in 9:05. Knoll was top Canadian in 29th.
Pieterse didn’t pit when Brand and Backstedt did at the beginning of Lap 2 and assumed the lead. Van Empel was up to fifth. A mistake from Brand that put her over the handlebars gave Backstedt opportunity to move past the series leader. Their gap back to Bakker and van Empel was small. Pieterse had a 15-second lead at the line. Knoll was 26th and Bilodeau was 36th.
On Lap 3 of 6, Brand shed Backstedt and lit out after Pieterse, chipping away at the gap. The rollers were proving too heavy to ride. Van Empel linked up with Bakker and Backstedt. Brand made the junction. The leading duo held a half-minute advantage over the chasing trio at the line. Knoll was 29th.
Early in Lap 4, Brand and Pieterse came shoulder to shoulder trying to claim a line. Brand then shed Pieterse and quickly had eight seconds. Gaps opened up between the three Podium Aspirants. Van Empel began to run down Pieterse. Knoll was 34th and Bilodeau 38th.
Going into the penultimate lap, Brand led Pieterse by 15 seconds, van Empel by 24 seconds. Both Alvarado and Hallahan abandoned. Van Empel snatched…
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