With the top two riders missing from the third round of the 2025-2026 Superprestige series on Remembrance Day, the general classification saw a big shuffle. Lucinda Brand earned her fifth win of the season at the Jaarmarktcross in Niel, Belgium to move up the table. Runner-up Inge van der Heijden now leads the series by two points over Aniek van Alphen.
Preliminaries
With a win and a podium in the first two rounds, Sara Casasola, out after a crash at the weekend’s European Championships, led the absent Marion Norbert Riberolle and Amandine Fouqenet by 4 points at the top of the table. Van der Heijden, six points in arrears, was on top of the world after her European title.
Helene Clauzel led onto the dry circuit. Aniek van Alphen grabbed the reins with Brand and van der Heijden keeping close tabs on her. Van Alphen made a mistake cresting a brief climb putting Brand in Position 1. Brand and van der Heijden were five seconds ahead of van Alphen and Clauzel at the end of Lap 1.
Brand dropped her company at the start of Lap 2 of 8 and had a five-second advantage at the line.
Van der Heijden was able to use the technical sections like the sand pit to keep Brand in check. Van Alphen took leave of Clauzel in pursuit of the podium. On each middle lap Brand added a couple of seconds to her gap. Van Alphen had the same problem on Lap 4 as she did on the first lap.
Going into the penultimate lap, Brand held 20 seconds on van der Heijden and 55 seconds over van Alphen. Fouquenet was keeping her hand in the reckoning for the series by moving up to fifth but she ultimately finished sixth.
On the final lap, Brand had time to high-five kids at the end of the sand section and van Alphen was wary of Clauzel “clauzing” in on her podium spot.
Two points separate van der Heijden from van Alphen in the standings. Brand is eight points back.
The next round is November 15 in Merksplas.
2025-2026 Superprestige, Round 3, Jaarmarktcross
1) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands/Baloise-Glowi Lions) 52:07
2) Inge van der Heijden (The Netherlands/Crelan-Corendon) +0:47
3) Aniek van Alphen (The Netherlands/Seven) +1:07
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