Fem van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) powered from a lead group of three riders to win the second round of the UCI World Cup in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday. Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) finished second and Annemarie Worst (777) faded on the finishing straight to place third.
Worst only saw the front of the race at the end of the race, leading the sprint before the final turns. Then Brand took a brief lead but Van Empel made the final pass for the victory on the pavement. For a second week in a row, the 20-year-old World Cup leader outsprinted Brand for the win.
“It was a surprise to me to win there. I am very happy to take the victory there. Today to win the race is the goal, we will see. It was a hard battle in Waterloo,” Van Empel said before the green flag dropped to start the race.
“Yeah, it's fantastic. We've gone to the US and take two victories,” Van Empel said at the finish. “My legs did not feel very great today, but I did everything to follow Lucinda [Brand] on the climb. So yeah, everything goes to my plan and I'm happy to finish it off.”
It was a warm and sunny day in the Ozark Mountains in north-west Arkansas, and overnight rains turned the dry and dusty course from Friday’s OZ Cross C1 contest into a more tacky surface.
Hélène Clauzel (AS Bike Racing) took the hole shot followed by Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix), and the duo set the pace for the first half lap. Coming through the zig-zags past the pits and onto the giant climb of the Walmart Stairs, Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) rode at the front with a small gap to Inge van der Heijden (777).
There were four chasers on the second lap who trailed by 15 seconds, Annemarie Worst (777), Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions), Clauzel and Fem van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal). Trying to catch on to the chase were Alvarado, who had dropped back due to an issue with her chain, and Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB). Alvarado used the second pass on the stairs to pass Clauzel.
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It was a group of five Dutch riders - Betsema, Van Empel, Brand, Van der Heijden and Worst - amassed at the front to take on a third lap. By the time the quintet began the lap, Alvarado and Clauzel had latched onto the back of the bunch, Betsema setting the pace. A half of a lap later, Alvarado had to stop in the pits to change her bike for a second time, leaving a gap of almost 5-6 seconds from the leaders.
While Alvarado was able to make a connection with the leaders on the fourth lap, Honsinger and Manon Bakker (Crelan-Fristads) trailed in eighth and ninth positions, respectively, 19 seconds back. At the front, Brand attacked on a long uphill climb on the dirt, Van Empel holding her back wheel, but a small gap forming for the duo with Betsema chasing solo in third.
On the fifth time around the circuit, Betsema made contact with Brand and Van Empel for a trio at the front, seven second ahead of the 777 pair of Worst and Van der Heijden. In the twisting section in the woods, Betsema appeared to drop her chain, which broke her momentum and once back on the bike she was back into chase mode again, this time with the 777 teammates.
There was just a six-second gap to the three chasers as Van Empel and Brand hit the penultimate lap, Clauzel 14 seconds back and Alvarado 16 seconds back. Van Empel attacked by riding over the barriers, immediately putting distance between her and Brand.
“The barriers, yeah, I did not do much on training. So, it was a bit of a risk. But when you take no risk you can maybe not win, so it was an all or nothing,” Van Empel stated.
But the former World Champion reeled her back.
It was a group of five Dutch riders who regrouped for the final lap, Brand charging at the front. Van Empel attacked on the technical section of the course, looking back to see that only Brand and Worst followed. The podium was set and the medals up for grabs.
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Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal), Annemarie Worst (777), and Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) were shoulder to shoulder when they hit the finish pavement, and Van Empel pulled away from them both to take the win ahead of Brand and Worst.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Women's UCI U23 Podium: Women's UCI Podium, Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) 1st, Judith Krahl (Heizomat Radteam p/b Kloster Kitchen) 2nd, Ava Holmgren (Canada) 3rd(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Sunny Gilbert (Blue Competitive Cycling p/b Build) makes her way up the 39 steps to the highest point on the Oz Cross World Cup course.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) positioned herself well early in the race, but a few untimely mechanicals cost her a number of places she was unable to make back.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Manon Bakker (Crelan-Fristads) drops down the North side of the hill after the staircase. The UCI changed the descent from the steep drop on the south face to a more gradual descent down and around from the North side.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
A fan in Belgian colors cheers on a group of Dutch riders. Ironically Belgium did not send any women to compete in the two U.S. based World Cup races this year.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Midway through the race, Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) and Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) opened a gap on the rest of the field.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-Svb) wasn't able to close the gap back to the lead group of riders and finished in 8th place.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Inge Van Der Heijden (777), Annemarie Worst (777), and Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) after getting separated from Brand and Van Empel.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
With one lap to go, five dutch women, Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions), Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal), Annemarie Worst (777), Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal), and Inge Van Der Heijden (777) entered the finishing straight together.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
A chase group of six riders, Caitlin Bernstein (Nice Bikes), Isabella Holmbren (Canada), Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation), Ava Holmgren (Canada), Caroline Mani (Alpha Groove Silverthorne), and Sidney McGill (OneBike Racing), make their way up the Electric Avenue climb in pursuit of the Dutch train at the front of the race.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Lucinda Brand (Beloise Trek Lions) and Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) make their way around one of the walls of the course feature nicknamed Stonehenge.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) congratulates Annemarie Worst (777) after the finish of the race.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) makes her way through one of the four switchbacks that takes riders to the lowest point on the course.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
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.
What started as a challenge to see if I could complete gravel's biggest race with a training plan based almost completely indoors turned into a battle for survival as the mud piled up and storm clouds rolled in
