Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado returns from sickness with a battling second place at the Antwerp World Cup

Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) put two weeks of sickness with the flu behind her and finished runner-up in the cyclo-cross World Cup at Antwerp.

The former cyclocross World Champion was forced to pull out during the World Cup at Terralba two weeks ago due to sickness.

However, she was back in action at Antwerp on Saturday and was the only rider able to follow the relentless pace of Lucinda Brand (Baloise-Glowi Lions) in the final two laps.

Brand eventually forced a slender gap on the final lap before making mistakes, allowing Alvarado to fight for the victory. However, the Baloise-Glowi Lions rider proved too strong on the final straights and won by two seconds. Alvarado admitted that she was already tired, making beating Brand ‘difficult’ even with her mistakes.

“I had a few difficult weeks behind me,” said Alvarado. “Today, I was a bit stressed because I didn't know how it would be. In the end it was a very good day.

“I had gone deep from the beginning to the end of the day. It was very tight racing. A bit technical, of course, because of the sand but tactical as well.

“At the end, she [Brand] was, of course, the strongest. It was going to be a bit difficult for me anyway [to win], because my candle went out a bit towards the end.

“I had to hope for a mistake or something from her, which made my chances grow a little more. But even then, I knew it was going to be difficult.”

Alvarado was forced to delay the start of her cyclo-cross season by two months due to persistent knee problems, returning for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup round at Flamanville where she finished third, despite admitting that she ‘suffered a lot’

The 2020 world, European and Dutch cyclo-cross champion started the following week in the World Cup at Terralba, however, she fell down the pack early on, and despite chasing back to seventh position she withdrew.

After that withdrawal her team posted on social media: "She doubted prior to the cross whether she should start, but decided to try anyway. Soon she felt that it was not possible."

Having missing last weekend’s World Cup at Namur the Dutch rider was back in action and racing for the win at Antwerp, showing the kind of technical skills which have earned her World Cup wins at Zonhoven and Koksijde in previous years.

When asked what was the difference in the final lap, Alvarado added: “I think it's not an excuse, of course, but being sick in the past two weeks hasn't been easy. Today was also quite hard for me. And towards the end of the race, I was very tired.”

The race at Antwerp was the first of 12 races in 15 days during the notorious Kerstperiode of cyclocross races in Belgium. With the World Cup round at Koksijde to follow on Sunday, Alvarado hopes that she can build her form in the forthcoming weeks.

“Lucinda [Brand] is just in top form, we can't ignore that,” added Alvarado. “I'm still improving and the past two weeks of being sick hadn't been easy.

“This race certainly gave me good courage and hopefully it can only get better. And my form is also growing into a top form, but I certainly have confidence that it will be fine.”

Alvarado's performance at Antwerp will be welcome to Dutch national coach Gerben de Knegt. Ahead of the race Knegt was unsure how she would respond following two weeks with sickness.

He told Wielerflits: "She came back strongly in the race [after her knee injury] and immediately finished third in the World Cup of Flamanville.

“But she got the flu afterwards and I think that explains everything. The only question now is will she get back to the level of Flamanville, I don't know why not, or does she need a little more time to grow back after that?"