Shirin van Anrooij dominates sand to win Zilvermeercross at Exact Cross in Mol
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Dutch rider Shirin van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions) competes during the women's elite race of the Zilvermeer Mol
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Annemarie Worst (left) and Lucinda Brand battle in the sand
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Zoe Backstedt (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) competes during the women's elite race of the Zilvermeercross in Mol
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Lucinda Brand competes during the women's elite race in Mol
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Elite women's podium in Mol (left to right): second-placed Lucinda Brand, winner Shirin van Anrooij and third-placed Annemarie Worst
(Image credit: JASPER JACOBS BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Shirin van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions) rode solo under the lights and won the Exact Cross round in Mol Friday. Teammate Lucinda Brand surged past Annemarie Worst (777) at the mid-point of the race and the duo secured the final spots on the Zilvermeercross podium, Brand in second and Worst in third.
Zoe Backstedt (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) took fourth place, more than a minute behind Van Anrooij, riding 10 seconds faster than Aniek van Alphen (777), who was fifth.
The top five women in the World Cup standings were absent from the Friday night ride in the rain, including the leading duo of 20-year-olds Fem van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and second-placed Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Van Anrooij earned her first elite World Cup victory in Beekse Bergen against the two rivals and is now sixth in the World Cup standings.
She still had to negotiate a wet course, deep sand and former World Champion Brand to secure her second victory of the season.
“My start wasn't great, but I wanted to get to the sand first and use that stretch. I made a mistake once and the rest didn't get any closer. Then I knew: if I don't make any more mistakes, then I will make it," she told Gazet van Antwerpen.
Van Anrooij took control of the race from the start, joined on the first laps by Worst, with a gap to Backstedt and Brand.
It was on the second lap that Brand broke away from the young Briton and joined Worst.
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With one lap to go, Brand chased alone in second place, 23 seconds behind the leader and Worst then tried to close a gap that began to widen from six seconds. The quartet held positions to the finish.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
