Ceylin Alvarado "only" third in Koksijde after fall in the first lap: "I think I could certainly have finished one place higher"

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado did everything she could to finish second in the final round of the X2O Trophy Koksijde, but Lucinda Brand was able to stay ahead of her. Fem van Empel took the victory in the Duinencross.

"I think I could certainly have finished one place higher," said the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider in the flash interview afterwards. "But I had somersaulted on the first lap," Alvarado continued. "As a result, I lost some places and had to find my rhythm again."

Alvarado also had some lower back problems during the race. "But I already had that during the recon," she emphasized that it was not necessarily due to her fall. "I had to wait and see how things would go today, but in the end I held up quite well. It wasn't until I could really give well on the road that it started to happen again. But I did my best to get the most out of it."

With an utmost effort, Alvarado reached Brand, but beating her was just not possible. "I also had Laura behind me. She rode a bit better through the sand than me, but I think I was a bit faster on the intermediate sections. At first I thought it was impossible to get Brand back, but lap after lap I got a little closer. At one point I kept watching her ride. Then I thought: it's all or nothing. I was a meter short or so," she laughed.