Back in the winner’s circle for a second consecutive Superprestige race this season, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won Saturday at Merksplas and snatched the overall lead in the series.
This time last year, the 2020 cyclocross world champion missed the start of the Superprestige and World Cup rounds due to health reasons, which her Alpecin team called “bad blood picture”. She was off the bike for an extended time.
She completed her 2021-2022 season without a victory, finishing fourth at the World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A rash of injuries and interruptions kept her away from the top step of the podium headed into multiple disciplines for 2022, when she underwent surgery for a torn ligament in her right wrist in March.This delayed her start to mountain bike season, and shortened her road season with Plantur-Pura to just 11 days.
The 21-month drought ended November 11 when she won the Superprestige stop in Niel, and then she continued the new streak at Merksplas. She spoke to Cyclingnews on her US swing for World Cup races that started in Waterloo, Wisconsin and predicted she was on track to be a top contender again.
“Well, I'm back healthy again. I think everything is OK. Of course, I'm not where I used to be, but I'm building on it. It takes time of course, I have to be patient, but I think I'm on the right way. And hopefully, I will be there,” Alvarado told Cyclingnews.
“The gap with like, a [Lucinda] Brand or Fem van Empel, it's still there, I wouldn't say big, but the gap is there. I wouldn't say it’s hard to close it, but it takes time. But I trust the process. Hopefully I have a good cyclocross season again, and I'm pretty sure that everything’s going to be fine.”
The back-to-back victories this week were against strong fields, which at Merksplas included Brand and Marianne Vos, but the trio of Dutch 20-year-olds controlling recent podiums were absent the other two races - Van Empel, Shirin van Anrooij and Puck Pieterse. Alvarado was finished fourth at World Cup Beekse Bergen last Sunday, just 25 seconds behind that threesome.
“I think the women in the Netherlands are, I would say, the best,” she said earlier in the year with a small laugh. “They always say it's like every race is like a world championship between us. I mean, I wouldn't blame them for saying that. It's kind of true.”
The Dominican-born rider is a two-time Dutch cyclocross champion, winning in 2019 in the U23 category and the next season as an elite rider. The 2019-2020 season was her breakout year in the elite category, sweeping the national title, European championship and world title. Then it was two years of disruptions.
Just before Alvarado won the women’s elite world title in Dübendorf, Switzerland in early February 2020, she signed a four-year extension with Alpecin-Fenix, now Alpecin-Deceuninck, where she began her pro cyclocross career in 2018. Just 21 years old at the time, the Dutchwoman had amassed a strong collection of elite victories, including the Dutch national championship, five victories in the DVV Trophy series, three victories among six podiums in the Superprestige series and the Koksijde World Cup.
This year she took a second place at World Cup Waterloo in her third race of the season. At the next four World Cup races she has finished ninth or better, and earned the silver medal in Namur at the European Championships.
“You don't forget winning the first time. That was very special, now I'm going through it,” Alvarado told Wielerflits after her win in Niel. “The shape is good, so you expect a few things. But you are very happy when it comes out.”
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