Cycling’s greatest of all time, Marianne Vos, proved yet again just why she is the best in an absolutely stunning and cunning duel with countrymate and defending champion, Lucinda Brand, at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday.
Perhaps the most tactical of Vos’ eight championship wins, the duel will surely be discussed by race analysts for years to come.
Some are calling Vos’ tactics smart and patient, others call that style passive or negative racing. The harshest critics — Brand’s coach Sven Nys among them — called it frustrating, cowardly even. But in the battle of Vos versus Brand, the cunning ‘fox’ versus ‘fire’ and number 1 versus number 2, was exactly the duel that we — and they themselves — expected.
The jousting began less than two laps into the race. Vos and Brand rid themselves of fellow Dutchwoman Ceylin Carmen del Alvarado and Italian Silvia Persico, and were off.
Vos settled herself in Brand’s wheel where she would stay for most of the race, much to Brand’s frustration.
Brand gestured and waved but initially Vos wouldn’t pull through. She eventually did, but neither of them let the other take control.
A little ramp up, an extra gear, an attack on a steep pitch. Vos tried to test Brand’s resilience and when Brand wasn’t going to be shaken off, Vos prepared for the sprint.
But sprinting is Vos’ domain and Brand didn’t want to let it come to that. In a last attempt to get Vos to lead out the run-in to the sprint she nearly came to a standstill. Vos, however, wasn’t to be fooled. Both riders came to a halt. The crowd gasped. Brand pushed on. With the line in sight, Vos took the lead and didn’t look back. Eight years after her last cyclo-cross world title, the 34-year-old claimed her eighth rainbow jersey. A triumph for Vos, bitter frustration for Brand.
The battle was fierce and the tension between the two was palpable. Perhaps even for a little while afterwards.
“For [Brand] at this moment, yes, of course, that is bitter. I would be bitter, too. That's the rivalry. “But the battle of the race stays in the race,” Vos assured Cyclingnews.
Just two years apart in age, the two came up in the sport of road cycling together. They’ve been teammates on the national team from early on, and also rode side by side as part of the Rabo-Liv trade team for several years. On the cross course, their rivalry is newer as Brand emerged when Vos was at her worst. But with Vos finding her old winning ways again, their rivalry burned hotter than ever before.
“We love to fight each other, and we do everything we can to beat each other,” said Vos. “But off the field, we actually get along very well and even in the race, too. That is precisely why you get such a nice fight because we know each other so well, and we know ‘this is going to be very difficult,’ and then you get such a nice duel.”
For Brand, the duel was more frustrating than nice. It ended precisely the way she didn’t want it to. Outsmarted yet again by the cunning Vos.
"Vos knows all my strengths and I know hers. I did everything I could to hold on to the rainbow jersey but it wasn’t enough,” Brand said. “We both knew that the best position for the sprint was in second place because of the wind and it was a long sprint, especially for me, being kind of a slow person compared to Marianne. So I wanted to try and get her to ride on the front but she knew I was going to try that so yeah.”
“Marianne is and continues to be a top contender. Eight World titles is super impressive.”
Come next weekend, Brand will trade the rainbow stripes for the white, blue and gold colours of the European Champion, and Vos will once again be in rainbows.
“It feels really special to put it on,” commented Vos, patting her brand new jersey and beaming. “It's not the first time but it's been a while. I always hoped and believed that there could still be things like this for me, but when it actually plays out that way, it is fantastic. You can take nothing for granted in sports. In that respect, this season was very beautiful and I enjoyed it and now that I can wear this one I will certainly enjoy it again."
Both Vos and Brand hope to keep the rivalry going for several years more, no matter their age.
“I certainly don’t think age is a very important thing in sport or in cyclo-cross. You see very young riders coming up early and doing very well and then you see us in our mid-thirties. You can do well at 18 and you can do well at 34. And I hope even a bit older.”
""Perhaps experience might help if you’re older and being fresh and explosive helps when you’re younger, but it's a sport that, at different ages, you can do very well.
“I totally agree,” said Brand with a laugh, making it clear that this rivalry will be one we’ll get to enjoy for some time yet.
