Fem van Empel on Koppenbergcross victory - "This cobblestone will have a special place"
CyclocrossTuesday, 01 November 2022 at 17:30
The recent Koppenbergcross victory is the latest addition to Fem van Empel's winning streak. The Dutchwoman has already won the first four World Cup races this season.
"This cobblestone will have a special place. It's the third time I've come here, so maybe it's triple justice," she told Sporza. She has won seven races out of the eight she has participated in this season, demonstrating her impressive performance.
The Dutchwoman left Denise Betsema and Shirin van Anrooij behind quite early in the race. "That was actually not the intention. After all, it was still very long to ride alone in the lead. However, I did notice that the legs were good. I made an attempt to ride away, and I succeeded. Then you just have to keep it up," explained Van Empel.
It also served as a training season for the European cyclocross championships. " I didn't ride around to grab as many seconds as possible. I saw this race mainly as good training for next Saturday. Normally I always train on Wednesdays in Alphen, but I wanted to finish an intensive training on Tuesday, and I think it worked out nicely,” concluded Van Empel.
Read also
claps 0visitors 0
Write a comment
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Is he one of those people attending the race to boo, throw beer or spit at MvDP?
KerisVroom25-05-2025 - (Just notice how long this is. Sorry.) I wonder why people rank van der Poel above Pogacar as a classics rider, like Museeuw does. Using Procyclingstats for what follows: Pogacar has 22 classics wins, of which 9 are monuments and 19 are at world tour level, and then there’s also one national and one world championship. His first classics win was 2021. Van der Poel has 26 classics wins, of which 8 are monuments and 17 are at world tour level, and there are 2 national and one world championship. His first classics win was in 2014. If we compare only the seasons from 2021 to now (meaning, from Pogacar’s first season with a classics won forward), van der Poel has 16 classics wins, of which 7 are monuments and 12 are at world tour level, and there’s a world championship. If we compare the seasons since Pogacar turned pro in 2019, then they are even at 22 classics wins, back to the 9 vs. 8 comparison of monuments, more of Pogacar’s are at world tour level (19 vs 16 of their 22), and they are even with 1 national and 1 world championship each. So it is damn close, but when I look at the stats alone, Pogacar comes out as the better classics rider in a head to head comparison, except at San Remo and Roubaix (his 4th place in a 2 man sprint at his first Flanders race has been more than rectified since). And yes, Pogacar will basically always lose the sprint at the end of a race to van der Poel, which requires him to use different tactics. So I get it, van der Poel is amazing, I absolutely love watching him race, I still think his Amstel win is one of the more superhuman feats I’ve seen in biking, and I got into CX and mountain biking because of him. But Pogacar, on the road, has a better head-to-head record. Sure, he also wins grand tours, but does that make him a worse classics rider? It shouldn’t. His record shows how amazing he is.RidesHills25-05-2025
- Some of those streets are the width of a car, this is stupid, I hope they don't take out the Tour winner.awp25-05-2025
- They have a serious problem getting Del Toro out of the pink jersey. He can win it!
DareDevil25-05-2025 - They should have waited in my view. Poor sportsmanship.Mart25-05-2025
- Would love to see him pull it off. Seems like a thoroughly decent guy.mobk24-05-2025
- Shame that, lads a natural, he'll have his time!
leedorney24-05-2025 - Whaaa? What’s the problem with mvdp? He’s just as classyCrashjames24-05-2025
- WvA says it right as always, great guy better then MvdP anyhow 👍leedorney24-05-2025
- I just finished watching his post stage interview, the more I see of him the more I like him, he showed empathy towards Ayuso which is a sign he has great character. I know he can climb, I don't know if he can climb like the rest of the gc challengers but I'm pulling for him!awp24-05-2025