Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado turns disaster weekend into a win in Zonhoven - "Yesterday I threw up everything twenty minutes before the start"

In Zonhoven, Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado won her second World Cup race of the season. She isn't fighting for the overall win, but has taken an important win only one day after having a disastrous day in Hulst.

In a post-race interview, she revealed that her race in Hulst came after a disastrous situation. “Yesterday I threw up everything twenty minutes before the start. I didn’t expect much anyway. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day, but I tried. I felt better today. It was a new day.”

Today was a new day, and a motivated Alvarado benefited from the absence of Fem van Empel in a star-studded field. “I had hoped it was just a one-off yesterday anyway. I slept well and kept everything inside last night and tonight. I also just felt better again. I was hoping for a good day. It took some time to get into it, but it went well.”

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Alvarado actually started off quite distant from the front, as Zoe Bäckstedt took over the early lead with a large gap, and then Lucinda Brand also dropped her. But in the second half of the race Alvarado flew, being the fastest in the entire course, and caught up with her two rivals.

“I didn’t really believe in it in the first half, because she rode very far away. At one point I was on Lucinda’s wheel and we are two riders who keep riding until the end. At one point we came very close, so then I thought: it’s for the win today," she explains. On lap 5 she was head and shoulders above the rest, and went clear. She reached the finish to take a brilliant victory - also moving up to third in the standings.

"Especially after the feeling of yesterday. Today was completely different. I didn’t expect to win, so that makes it even better," she concluded. "I skipped two races and didn’t have a good day yesterday. So I think it will be difficult to win. Hopefully I keep riding well in the World Cup and then we’ll see.”

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