Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado holds off late Lucinda Brand charge to take victory at Superprestige Aardbeiencross Merksplas

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has taken the victory at Superprestige Aardbeiencross Merksplas this Saturday afternoon ahead of Lucinda Brand and Marie Schreiber in a gruelling battle. 

Marie Schreiber flew out of the blocks on the opening lap, powering clear of the rest of the field whilst Zoe Backstedt led the chase and the likes of Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado kept themselves quiet in the pack. Towards the end of lap 2 though, Brand and Alvarado made their move and midway through lap 3, got back into contact with Schreiber.

With the likes of Backstedt, Sara Casasola, Annemarie Worst and Inge van der Heijden also regrouping shortly after, it was actually the latter that headed to the front and made the next acceleration. After Van der Heijden and Alvarado had a coming together on lap 4, Brand looked as if she'd gained a potentially race winning gap. Alvarado though, chased back hard and on lap 5, managed to force a gap herself. As it turned out, the gap did eventually prove to be decisive as Alvarado took victory ahead of Lucinda Brand despite a late charge by the Dutch national champion.