Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike) made it three successive victories at the UCI World Cup Antwerpen, with another commanding performance at the Cyclocross World Cup opener.
Just as she did yesterday to win the Exact Cross Kortrijk, the world champion spent most of the race in front alone, having gone clear on the second lap.
Marie Schreiber (SD Worx) )was the only rider to stay with Van Empel for a sustained period, but made some mistakes digging deep to try and hold her wheel. She lost contact on the second lap, and went on to finish third after being passed by Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) during the third lap.
Van Empel described the keys to winning today as “Focus for the whole race, and ride a steady tempo,” when asked in the post-race interview. “It was quite hard today with the wind, and also with the sand parts. I did a good job.”
“The headwind was quite hard. Behind me there were a lot of small groups, I kept fighting to the finish, and I’m really happy.”
The performance showcased Van Empel in exceptional form as she embarks on her World Cup campaign, and she intends to ride the Dublin leg next Sunday and Namur the following fortnight, though will skip Cabras-Sardinia the week in between.
Behind Van Empel in second place was Lucinda Brand, who rued a slow start.
“I tried my best to start as fast as possible,” Brand explained. “It’s very short and was not easy. I think it was not super-bad, but it can always be better. Then it’s really hard to pass, and my sand sections weren’t the best, so instead of moving up I lost a few places.
“The first two [Van Empel and Schreiber] had a gap already by the time I could finally move up, and I never could close it anymore.
“I tried to stay calm and to make sure I had space to pass through, because I knew that if they maybe made one mistake,and you do it perfect, then you can come back. But in the front they did it perfect as well. Fem just was strong, because once she was ahead, she contained her gap.”
By contrast, Schirber had a lightning fast, and actually led the race for the first part, before Van Empel brought her back on an especially difficult sand stretch on the first lap.
“I had a super-good start, and then I cracked a bit in the second and third laps. When Lucinda came I could not follow, but towards the end I had a good pace, and I didn’t make any mistakes, so I could keep the third place.”
“I thought I would just hang on [to Van Empel] for as long as I can, and then unfortunately on the sand I made a big mistake, and she was gone. I never got back. I also think I went a little bit over the limit trying to follow her because after that I cracked a bit. I think I was beyond the limit because I made some mistakes. In the sand, if you’re really on your limit, you start to make mistakes.”
Behind Schriber, Sara Casasola (Hess Cycling Team) attacked away from Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the final lap to win a closely-fought battle for fourth-place, while Blanka Vas (SD Worx) and Zoe Bacstedt (Canyon-SRAM) placed sixth and seventh respectively.
