Tenth last year in the same race, the Crelan-Corendon rider attacked a group of eight across the start/finish line, opened up a 12-second advantage with one lap to go and stayed away for the victory.
Second was her teammate Sara Casasola with French National Champion Amandine Fouquenet in third.
Making her long-awaited comeback, Van Empel made much of the running in the middle section of the fast, dry race. But when Norbert Riberolle zipped away from the back of the group on the paved finishing area, the World Champion did not react quickly enough to the Belgian's attack, finally finishing sixth in her first race of the season.
"It feels strange, I don't really realise [what I've done]," Riberolle said about her first win of the year.
"Yesterday the team manager was really pushing us to play with the team atmosphere" - [work as a team] - "and today was really great, I'm really proud of us."
How it unfolded
Amandine Fouquenet got the early lead on the dry, dusty course, Van Empel moving into seventh place, but then began chasing hard, moving up towards a front group also containing Leonie Bentveld and Mannon Bakker. Bakker was unlucky enough to fall, but Van Empel forged on past her in pursuit of the first leaders on the day.
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After two laps, Van Empel had closed in, with Van Alphen and Inge van der Heijden also present in a group with a very narrow lead, then Norbert Riberolle moving across. But the high speed and relatively easy conditions meant it was a very cagy race, with no real attacks going forward in a loose front group of seven as the wait to see what leading favourite Van Empel would - or could - do continued.
After closing down multiple moves, finally on the sandbox section, Van Empel made a more determined attack down the far side of her rivals. With just a handful of seconds at the top of the rise, she maintained the pace, with only Bentveld able to close in initially and Van der Heijden then coming across. Yet again, though, there was a subsequent easing of the pressure on the front, allowing the seven-strong group to reform and even for Alphen to make a quick dig on the planks section.
Norbert Riberolle then made a more concerted effort crossing the finish line for a third last time, the U23 World Champion and Belgian National Champion carrying some major monentum into the last two laps as she cleverly ambushed her rivals by attacking right from the back.But Van Empel refused to move, forcing the others to react, and in the space of hesitation and with Crelan-Corendon teammates like Van de Heijden covering her move too, Norbert Riberolle continued to blast ahead. On the crucial sand section, she already had a five-second advantage and on the planks, the gap remained open. Van Empel, on the other hand, was racing much more conservative, drifting right off the back of a second chase group, even as Norbert Riberolle's advantage more than doubled.
In the final laps there were some more concerted counter-attacks, but it was too little too later. Norbert Riberolle was able to claim an impressive first triumph of the season, while Van Empel, whilst visibly on good form, was forced to settle for one of the minor placings.
Superprestige Ruddervoorde: Fem van Empel on her way to sixth (Image credit: Getty Images)
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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