Brand set to seal World Cup as Betsema skips penultimate round in France

World Champion Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) looks set to seal the overall title of the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup with two rounds to go, the next one in Flamanville on January 16 followed by Hoogerheide on January 23. 

Runner-up in the series, Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), has opted to skip the penultimate round in Flamanville as she prepares to re-build her form ahead of the final round in Hoogerheide and then the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on January 29 and 30.

"No Denise Betsema in the penultimate round of the @UCIcyclocrossWC, this Sunday in #Flamanville. After a demanding Christmas period and the rather disappointing Dutch nationals, Denise has decided to skip the long trip to France to be 100% fit again for Hoogerheide and worlds," Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal wrote in a post on social media Friday.

Brand has collected the bulk of her points after winning six rounds of the World Cup in Fayetteville, Tabor, Besançon, Namur, Dendermonde and Hulst. She now leads the series with 402 points.

She currently leads the series by 59 points ahead of runner-up Betsema and 107 ahead of third-place Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Fenix). Each World Cup win offers 40 points to the winner, 30 for second place and 25 for third place.

In an abbreviated World Cup season in 2020-2021, Brand won four of the five events held and won the series title, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix) finishing second and Betsema taking third.

Brand will lead a team of eight riders for the Dutch National Team at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. She secured an eighth spot for her nation having won the world title in Ostend last year. 

The Dutch women's team in Fayetteville will also include Betsema, Annemarie Worst, Marianne Vos, Yara Kastelijn, Inge van der Heijden, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, and Manon Bakker.

The Dutch will send only two elite men of seven available entries, National and European Champion Lars van der Haar and Corné van Kessel. Men's elite defending World Champion Mathieu van der Poel is out with an injury.