Reigning girls’s world cyclocross champion Fem van Empel says that she is not going to scale back her cyclocross calendar to spice up her street ambitions.
The 22-year-old took a tenth cyclocross win of the season on the World Cup spherical in Benidorm on Sunday, beating Lucinda Model to victory after a tense and thrilling race on the Costa Blanca.
After the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Liévin in two weeks, the Dutch rider will flip her consideration to the street. She’ll begin her marketing campaign on the girls’s Milan-San Remo Donne on March 22, the place she’ll be working for Marianne Vos.
“I’ll journey Milan-San Remo in a serving function,” Van Empel informed Sporza. “Relying on my kind, we are going to see the place I will probably be in the beginning after that.
“The spring Classics swimsuit my profile finest. However I ponder whether it’s practical to win there within the quick time period. Then all the things would actually should go effectively.”
With Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel each using decreased cyclocross campaigns this season to swimsuit their street ambitions, questions have been requested if Van Empel – solely on her third season as a part of the elites – will do likewise sooner or later.
“That isn’t but the case,” she insisted. “I’ll proceed to ‘cross, as I did this season, in order that I can prepare for the street in between. I’ll actually not in the reduction of on my cyclocross calendar, as a result of I believe ‘cross is way too lovely.”
The newest race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
Like Van Aert and Van der Poel, Van Empel is one other prodigy of the game, with two world titles beneath her belt already and one other in her sights. Expectations are excessive, however then once more, they at all times have been.
“I needed to cope with stress and expectations from exterior at a younger age,” she stated. “I did not know how you can cope with that. Now I am making an attempt to grasp that higher and higher. However that’s not at all times simple.”
Van Empel is not infallible, although. Final season, she dominated girls’s cyclocross with 19 wins from 21 begins. This season, she has been overwhelmed seven instances in 17 begins, and was as soon as once more pushed in Benidorm by the skilled former world champion Model.
A big group of 11 riders got here into the ultimate lap along with Model driving the tempo on the quick course. Nonetheless, Van Empel got here out from behind her rival on the boundaries part as each dismounted and ran.
Because the pair remounted collectively, Van Empel had the ability to take the lead and maintain off her rival on the sprint for the road, taking her third consecutive win in Benidorm.
“The best way I win at present can also be particular and likewise reveals my battle. I’m very glad with my season and definitely with this victory. Yearly it is thrilling right here, it is a tremendous race,” she stated.
“Lucinda saved the door closed effectively. She did not go away any area, so the planks have been really one of many final potentialities to discover a hole. It was simply full throttle on that plank after which a dash for the asphalt.”
Van Empel added that she was at all times in management in the course of the race, regardless that nearly all of the six-lap occasion noticed a big group of favourites on the entrance.
“At first, I used to be centered, and I used to be in first or second place the entire race. I used to be in management,” she stated.
Van Empel has structured her cyclocross season in a different way this marketing campaign by incorporating street coaching camps. She has additionally taken World Cup wins at Antwerp, Gavere, and Besančon, alongside the UEC European Championships, Koppenbergcross, and Actual Cross races in Beringen and Kortrijk.
“I might be very glad with my winter in the interim,” she stated. “I gained all of the crosses I had set my sights on. For the remaining, I solely did not end on the rostrum as soon as [in Namur – Ed.]. I had a number of dangerous luck then.
“If you happen to go away that ‘cross out of the equation, I am using an excellent season thus far. I do not fear anymore once I’m in the beginning of a cross. I attempt to rely by myself power, that provides me confidence.”