Brand wins in muddy Namur

Dutch champion Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) won a muddy edition of the sixth round of the Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Namur (Belguim) on a relatively warm but rainy Sunday afternoon.

Brand won solo ahead of compatriots Marianne Vos (Waowdeals Pro Cycling Team) and Annemarie Worst (Steylaerts-777), making it a Dutch clean-sweep on the podium. Brand took her second World Cup win of the season and this time she won by a huge margin over her rivals, something she hadn’t expected ahead of the race.

“Certainly not, especially with such a strong starting field in the World Cup,” Brand said. “It’s a confirmation that indeed I can win on the highest level. It’s super nice to get my name on the list of winners at a race like this one.”

Vos extended her lead in the World Cup standings, totalling 41 points more than world champion Sanne Cant - who never felt comfortable in Namur and finished on a distant 13th place at the citadel. Worst moved ahead of Kaitlin Keough (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) into third place overall. Last year’s surprise winner, Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) is out with a knee injury and didn’t race in Namur.

No fewer than 82 riders from 17 nations lined up at the start near the foot of the citadel in Namur on Sunday. Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing CX) and Italian champion Eva Lechner (Creafin Tüv Sud) enjoyed the best start in the peloton. However, the duo was unable to keep up when the Dutch stars, Vos, Worst and rising star Denise Betsema (Marlux-Bingoal), moved forward. A little later, Brand and Nikki Brammeier (Mudiiita) joined the front of the race.

Towards the end of the second lap, Brand charged forward on the climbs. At first, her rivals were narrowly able to keep up but Brand dug deep and was gone for good by the time they crossed the finish line. On the famous off-camber descent, Brand was able to extend her lead. Brammeier led the chase but didn’t have a great the third lap. Over the remaining circuits, Brand rode flawlessly through the muddy course, extending her lead to half a minute over the chase group.

The battle for the remaining podium spots was a tough one, with Vos, Worst, Betsema, Lechner, Brammeier, and a surprisingly strong Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing CX), all fighting it out. Vos took the initiative with Worst fighting hard to keep her in sight. The positions remained the same until the finish line, with both riders being happy with that result. Neff was able to pass Betsema and Lechner in the closing laps but was beaten in the sprint by Brammeier.

European mountain bike champion and 2018 overall mountain bike World Cup winner Neff made her comeback in the cyclo-cross scene after crashing out last season with a horrible fall at the World Cup round in Hoogerheide in January. Neff moved up from a distant start position during the opening laps and featured in the top-10 halfway the race.

“I came back from a training camp in New Zealand only three days ago. So, finishing fifth here is great. I was able to profit from my mountain biking background. I struggled on the climbs but moved up on the technical sections,” Neff said.

Half a minute later, Lechner captured sixth place ahead of Betsema. Kaitlin Keough was eighth at 1:15. Young Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Corendon-Circus) finish ninth in Namur and was the first rider in the Women Under 23 category. Alvarado closes in on Fleur Nagengast (Telenet Fidea Lions) who remains the leader in the World Cup standings in the U23 category.

The next World Cup round is held in three days, with racing action heading to the car racing track in Heusden-Zolder on Boxing Day.

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