Superprestige Niel: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado dominates from start to finish

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) was in a class of her own as she soloed to her fourth win of the 2024 cyclocross season at the Superprestige Niel, taking the lead on the first of five laps and staying away all the way to the finish. 

Despite losing out to Dutch champion Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) in Sunday's Rapencross, Alvarado easily managed to pull away in the opening phases with no response from her rivals. 

Alvarado managed to eke out a nine-second gap to Brand at the end of the opening lap to 21 seconds by the finish after a brief 42 minutes of racing. Brand held onto second place after an intense battle with Sara Casasola (Crelan-Correndon).

However, the Italian champion lost out on the final podium spot after teammate Marion Norbert Riberolle worked her way past on the final lap with a last-gasp sprint to the line.

It was a practically flawless performance from the former world champion Alvarado, who dealt with the heavy mud, an awful lot of running and five reps up the tough climb of the Muur van Niel better than those behind.

Her third win in a row in Niel moved her up to equal first in the Superprestige overall standings on 42 points, alongside Brand, with Casasola five points off them in third and world champion Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike) further down on 28 points. 

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