Ava Holmgren climbs to her premiere cyclocross podium in muddy Baal: "The mud did not stick to your bike as much as in some other races"

Ava Holmgren stood on the podium of a classification cross for the first time on Monday in her first day in the Lidl-Trek outfit. Although the Canadian finished far behind Lucinda Brand and winner Fem van Empel in the X2O Trofee Baal, a third place at this level can still be called impressive for an 18-year-old who taked to WielerFlits after the race.

"I started the race pretty well," Holmgren began the story of her cross. "I was sitting around fifth place and thought: third place is within reach, try to do your best and not make too many mistakes. Suddenly I was in third position and I thought: now you really can't make any mistakes anymore and you have to go as fast as possible."

The mud made the course in Baal extremely difficult. That gave Holmgren's performance even more value. "It was very tough, there was a lot of mud. Most of the time you could continue cycling and the mud did not stick to your bike as much as in some other races. I enjoyed it."

Ava Holmgren is the twin sister of Isabella Holmgren, who became world junior cross champion last year. Isabella finished ninth in Baal after recently suffering from stomach flu. "I'm very happy that she is back. I'm sure she'll be here with me in no time, or even sooner," said Ava.