Fem van Empel is only 20 years old but has throughout the past months been at the very top of the cyclocross world, winning the European Championships, all four World Cup races and all but one race throughout her entire season so far. However, she aims even higher, and on the road, she admits.
"My biggest dream is to win a Grand Tour one day," she said in a recent interview. "But I don't know if my body can ever handle that. The future will show where my ambitions will really lie." Although having some results on the road such as a third place at the under-23 European championships this year, it is off-road that she has shown her true talent. She has placed herself as the most dominant and main figure in the women's cyclocross field so far, with no apparent weak spots.
"I think it will be good for my development in the long run to combine many disciplines. Mountain biking is very playful. It is then again very good for the cross. Also for my road skills it wouldn't hurt to ride the mountain bike now and then," she continues, teasing her presence on MTB such as her compatriot and similar talent Puck Pieterse.
“I don't know where I'll end up on the road. After my win in Val di Sole in December, I had the choice of teams," she said, eventually choosing Jumbo-Visma, the team she will represent from the 1st of January together with Marianne Vos, a rider who she is being compared to often.
"It was already very difficult to make the right choice. I doubted for a long time between SD Worx and Jumbo-Visma, that it eventually became. But for me the road is one big voyage of discovery that starts somewhere in June. I still have to learn everything there," the Dutch supertalent continued.
“I'm just Fem and I hope to come into the picture this way. I prefer not to be compared with anyone. Although that is nice at first sight, of course, but still. I get a lot of nice comments on social media, but I also read the negative ones," she reveals.
Exposure to bad comments ends up being part of the huge amount of exposure the Dutch rider has, but she talks about how she handles it: “Somehow you remember those more than the positive ones, which of course is a shame. It comes from outsiders. I have to learn to deal with it. I am also getting better and better, but of course it is difficult."
Her presence further illustrates the current dominance of the Dutch riders in the women's field. “But because the Dutch ladies are doing very well, I notice that the NOS is getting more and more interested in cyclo-cross," she is aware, being a big part of the picture.
"People from my neighborhood are also becoming more and more interested, but here it is still much more alive," she said of Belgium.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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