Reigning cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel had a weekend marred with crashes and incidents as she completed fourth in Hoogerheide and sixth the day prior to this at Maasmechelen. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider referred to as Sunday’s effort an ‘off day’.
The 22-year-old was within the podium combat at Hoogerheide earlier than sliding out on a slippery nook and driving 53 seconds after Lucinda Model (Baloise Glowi Lions) took victory, leaving Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) to take the opposite spots on the rostrum.
“The sensation was a lot better than yesterday. I got here again robust and rode effectively till the crash,” Van Empel mentioned.
“After all, it might’ve been nicer if it had been a fantastic weekend, however I’m feeling good and really assured heading into subsequent week’s World Championships.”
As a comfort prize, Van Empel took runner-up honours within the World Cup sequence with 276 factors, effectively behind Model however holding a 23-point benefit over Vas after the eleventh and last race.
There actually wasn’t a whole lot of celebration for Visma-Lease a Bike, because the doubleheader of racing proved to be extra subdued with the crashes. Van Empel’s teammate Marianne Vos, an eight-time ‘cross world champion, suffered crashes at Maasmechelen, ending thirteenth, which was her greatest end of simply 4 World Cup begins, and in Hoogerheide.
On Sunday, Vos pulled out at Hoogerheide when she skilled calf ache from a fall within the first lap. The crew said “over the subsequent few days, her restoration shall be intently monitored” for a begin subsequent weekend.
Vos hoped to choose up key rating factors to enhance her gridding place for subsequent weekend at Liévin however had one other crash within the mud on Sunday. The Dutch rider will now must battle via the sphere on the elite girls’s race subsequent Saturday if she goes to be in medal competition.
“It’s what it’s,” Vos instructed Wielerflits. “At Maasmechelen I did not transfer up instantly. Then it’s actually troublesome. It actually turns into a combat. I really acquired into my rhythm effectively, so I used to be very pleased there.
“After all, you simply hope for an excellent begin there [in Liévin]. But when I began on the entrance row, it would not change a lot about my ambitions.
“Though after all you need to be reasonable: if you cannot go straight to the highest ten from the primary lap, it is a massive effort to get there.”
Vos additionally had a message for her younger teammate Van Empel, who’s hoping to defend her world title within the elite race at age 22.
“Irrespective of how younger she is, she already has fairly a little bit of expertise,” Vos mentioned.
“She has additionally proven in latest weeks, months and years what she is able to. At Maasmechelen it wasn’t fairly simple, however she simply has to remain calm. The shape is there. She simply has to journey her personal race subsequent week.”
Van Empel was prepared for the problem. One in all her high opponents shall be Vas, the Hungarian rider rising from the weekend as an out of doors favorite for a historic first girls’s world cyclocross title for her nation.
“There are a whole lot of ladies in good condition in the meanwhile, so I anticipate an thrilling battle,” Van Empel mentioned in regards to the subsequent weekend in Liévin.
“The approaching days will primarily be about restoration to make sure I’m recent at first in France on Saturday.”
