Dublin delight for Lucinda Brand! Dutch champ dominates Fem van Empel to take World Cup Dublin victory
Cyclocross
Baloise - Trek Lions' Lucinda Brand has taken the victory at the second round of this winter's UCI World Cup in Dublin, handing world champion Fem van Empel a rare defeat in a near faultless display from the Dutch national champion.
From the start, Marie Schreiber and Zoe Backstedt were competing for the front, with Fem van Empel content to sit and wait in third place. The world champion didn't wait too long though, coming to the head of the race towards the end of the opening lap but as she had some issues and needed to drop into the pits, Van Empel was immediately dropped right back through the field at the start of lap 2.
Seeing trouble for Van Empel, her rivals tried to take advantage with Lucinda Brand accelerating hard at the front. In fact, so vicious was the Dutch national champion's rising of the pace, that by the end of lap 2, Brand was clear solo at the front. Van Empel meanwhile had worked her way back through the pack and crossed the line for the end of lap 3 as Brand's nearest challenger, 13 seconds down.
As Brand started the penultimate lap, her advantage over Van Empel has actually extended to 22 seconds with the world champion seemingly unable to offer anything in response. The battle for the final spot on the podium meanwhile was coming down to a battle between Backstedt and Inge Van der Heijden.
With Brand taking the bell for the final lap, she knew if she could keep things upright victory was assured, with Van Empel now half a minute down the course. The Visma leader hadn't completely given up, still pushing the course to its limits on the corners, but the advantage Brand had built up proved simply too much to overcome as victory went to the Dutch national champion.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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