Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Fem van Empel has made it 19 victories for the winter with the latest triumph coming at the X2O Trofee in Lille.
Although Lucinda Brand was able to stay with the initial attacks of Fem van Empel, on the second lap it seemed like the world champion had finally managed to snap the elastic and break free. At the end of lap 2, the gap was 8 seconds.
As van Empel began to ride off into the distance towards another victory, Brand's second place was beginning to look under threat due to the immense efforts of Laura Verdonschot. Despite the Belgian's best attempts though, Brand held on for second.
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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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- The conditions there were absolutely heavenly. No wonder that Vanthourenhout was literally sucked into the ground. I think Mason and Wyseure are very similar types of riders. We've seen that when Vanthourenhout has been in a similar position to where Mason was, and Wyseure has had the legs, he's been able to power his way back. But that's not quite possible when Mason is putting out more power in front.
Rafionain-Glas11-11-2026 - What a win! It's been been so long in the waiting but I'm so glad for Cameron that he's finally got that victory. Sad to see Brand crash out like that. It didn't look too bad initially but there was clearly something very wrong. It could be like van Aert's last yearRafionain-Glas11-11-2026
- since you called pidcock pogi's BIG RIVAL in another article a few days ago ... i guess adding ciccone to the mix makes him almost unbeatable, no?Ketterechts11-11-2026
- 🤣🤣🤣what a headlineabstractengineer11-11-2026
- When you have four or five guys who are defined leaders of teams that are winning races or at least placing highly in big races, a lot of guys who are racing will not be seen as assets to those teams. If they can't be part of the program then they are let go. I remember back if you won a single stage of the Tour and maybe had a good classic result you would have a cemented place on a team. That is not the case now in the era we live in because the top guys are so good and their goals are so defined. It's bad in a way for them but good for us as fans.awp11-11-2026
- Lots of people seem fed up of Pogi's phenomenal dominance, but I've been drawn into watching professional cycling again (after the Armstrong doping era, that's when I stopped) because of it. I don't think I'd be as interested if it wasn't for Pogi. People call it boring, it’s the exact opposite for me, I will never ever tire of watching absolute greatness in action. He is the greatest athlete this planet has ever produced. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans11-11-2026
- dfsdfsdfsdfwajohe447911-11-2026
- I have no sympathy for Ayuso or the situations he gets himself into. He was a traitor in the UAE team, he hated Pogi and never wanted to work for him. He always had excuses why he couldn't perform. No riders in the team liked his character and did not approve the kind of person he was on a deep, moral, or personal level. I just don't care about him. Ad acta.PogiSloFans11-11-2026
- Great response! I love the article also. Interesting to see which "Legends" will be covered. There are a few out there :-)
DareDevil11-11-2026 - This is one of the reasons why Ineos is failing, G can comment on his pod but why has he not attracted talent from the peloton to Ineos. He has lot of inside track. Also ratcliffe handling of Man United is also disastrous.abstractengineer11-11-2026
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🇧🇪 #X2OBadkamersTrofee 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 🔥
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