Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado beats Lucinda Brand to win Superprestige Merksplas under very muddy conditions

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado continues her run of success in the Superprestige Cup, she wins the fourth round in Merksplas beating Lucinda Brand.

The race in Merksplas had a tough run-up, the bad weather led the organizers into changing the course last-minute. The riders found a lot of mud and wet sections which made it a very little tactical race, all down to power and technique.

"Does it still make sense to watch?" - Roger De Vlaeminck believes we may as well hand Mathieu van der Poel Cyclocross World Championship victory now given snubs by Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock

Lucinda Brand took the lead early in the race and had good power, the Dutch rider seemed to be on a day where she could fight Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado but the technical sections proved too important and Brand struggled. In the second lap a gap was created in advantage of the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider and she took her third consecutive win in the cup. Lucinda Brand and Marion Norbert Riberolle finished second and third.