World Champion Fem van Empel slogged her way through muddy, greasy conditions to victory in Gavere, going clear in the second lap to clinch a hard-won solo triumph.
A training crash and knee injury had forced Van Empel to miss the preceding World Cup round, and she was a low-key seventh in her previous race at Namur.
But the Dutchwoman was clearly back on top form in Gavere, going one better than her second place last year and claim her second World Cup victory last year.
Second was Lucinda Brand, finally capable of going clear of 2023 Gavere winner Puck Pieterse after an epic duel behind the unstoppable Van Empel.
"Every win is very important, but the last days were not easy for me," Van Empel said afterwards, "But I showed my condition is good, so I'm really happy."
She agreed that the victory was important, too, to show that her knee was in good condition, saying "For now, yes, the running part was also good, so I'm happy."
71 riders got underway on a chilly, overcast day over the constantly undulating, very muddy course, but Van Empel was already into the lead after barely half a lap. Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), meanwhile, shadowed the Visma-Lease a Bike racer closely, grinding her way ahead of Blanka Vas (Canyon-SRAM) to make it look like a two-rider race from the get-go.
As the two crossed the finish line for the first time, Van Empel and Pieterse had a 10-second advantage on Brand while the rest of the field were already further adrift. The two race leaders at this point looked to be evenly matched overall, Van Empel grinding her way steadily up the leafy, rutted climbs, while Pieterse seemed to be more nimble on some of the technical sections, but was slightly gapped on the longer hills.
Fighting for traction on the slithery course, almost all the riders opted for a lot of bike changes given the perilously greasy conditions, but Van Empel nonetheless opted to open up the throttle even more. Thanks to that relentless increase in pace and pressure, towards the end of lap 2, Van Empel had eked out a 15-second gap on Pieterse, while Vas and Brand were engaged in a much closer duel for third.
The going was so tough it made any advantage a brittle one, and a bike change by the Visma-Lease a Bike racer briefly squeezed back the gap between the two leaders on lap 3 of 5 to single digits. However, Van Empel then proved her superiority yet again as she made the most of gaining time on the ascents, going from strength to strength to increase her third-lap advantage to 22 seconds. Brand meanwhile, was able to drop Vas to gain a firmer hold on the provisional podium - and perhaps go for more.
A further fall for Pieterse complicated her chase, coming too hard into a right-hand corner, but she could continue unscathed. Brand, however, was looking to go up a podium spot and strengthen her advantage in the World Cup rankings, and she duly closed in steadily on Pieterse, finally power-slithering past the Alpecin-Fenix racer to move into second on one of the muddiest descents.
Pieterse briefly regained the second spot thanks to some nifty line-picking, but Brand seemed to have the greater consistency on the ultra-demanding course. She eventually overhauled Pieterse again for a definitive runner's up place and an even bigger overall advantage in the World Cup series.
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Meanwhile ahead Van Empel slogged onwards, though, picking up some lapped riders, and by the end of lap 4, her advantage on Brand had risen 33 seconds, with Pieterse at 41 seconds. Last year Gavere was where Van Empel had finally seen a run of 11 victories broken by Pieters. But this time round, from early on the 22-year-old had had the race in her grip and despite a minor fall on the final lap, she made it all the way to the finish line alone and ahead of the field.
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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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