Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado: "It's painful, But losing to Marianne Vos is, of course, not a disaster"

Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado finished second in X2O Trofee Kortrijk. She managed to drop Denise Betsema but failed to outsprint Marianne Vos and satisfied herself with silver.

"It was tough," Alvarado said in the post-race interview. "I knew it was going to be hard to beat Marianne Vos in the sprint, so I did try to get off beforehand. In the very last corner, we both had to start from a standstill. That was maybe to my advantage because I could start first, but she was just a bit stronger. My legs were filling up. It's painful, though, especially when you're so close. But losing to Marianne Vos is, of course, not a disaster."

It was a bad start for Alvarado; otherwise, she could have gained an advantage over them in the first lap, but she accepts the result as it stands."That wasn't supposed to happen. There was a girl making a really wide turn, and I was on her right, so I had no option but to go into the post and change. That wasn't easy. It was a fast lap, then it's hard to come back. And you have riders in front of you who also caused delays. It wasn't easy, but I was happy to make the connection pretty early on," concluded Alvarado.