Exact Cross Heerderstrand: Alvarado dominates again in the sand

Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) again dominated the women's race at the Exact Cross Heerderstrand in the Netherlands. 

The former world champion has now won three of the four races she has started this season and is the natural favourite for next weekend's European Championships.

Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon) finished 14 seconds behind, with Laura Verdonschot (De Ceuster-Bouwpunt) third at 19 seconds.  

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Van der Heijden led from the start line as Alvarado opted for a slower start and even lost a few places on the first lap. Indeed, van der Heijden, Manon Bakker and Verdonschot started the second lap with a six-second gap on Alvarado. The gap reached ten seconds, as the warm autumnal weather made Alvarado suffer. However she soon found her speed and determination and blasted across the gap to the leaders after 20 minutes of the six-lap race.  

Ten minutes later Alvarado surged away from her rivals in the sand on the edge of the lake and was never seen again.  She only had a seven-second lead when the bell rang for the final lap after a spill in the deep sand but appeared in control and back to her best. 

"Now I've won three out of four and that is quite a good report”, Alvarado said of her successful start to the cyclocross season. 

"I didn’t have the best legs at the beginning of the race, it took me a long time to take my position at the front of the race but I never gave up. I had already changed bikes because I didn’t have the best tires but everything was fine pretty quickly.

"I knew that I really had to choose my moment to attack. In the sand I created a gap on the rest. I knew immediately that I had to pass if I wanted to make it."  

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