Glory for Lucinda Brand and Niels Vandeputte! Superprestige season comes to a close at Noordzeecross Middelkerke

Today marks the end of the Superprestige season at the Noordzeecross Middelkerke. A week on from the World Championships in France, and it was Inge van der Heijden and Joris Nieuwenhuis who won the elite women's and elite men's races on the day, whilst Lucinda Brand and Niels Vandeputte secured the overall victories.

In the first lap of the men's race, there was a touch of controversy as Michael Vanthourenhout appeared to give Kevin Kuhn a push.

But in the absence of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, it was Nieuwenhuis, Eli Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout who appeared to be the strongest on the day. In the end, Nieuwenhuis was able to power ahead of Iserbyt, as the overall winner, Vandeputte, secured the final spot on the podium.

Inge van der Heijden secured the most significant victory of her cyclocross career in the women's elite race, after 25 podium places she finally got her first win. Van der Heijden managed to fend off Lucinda Brand, who nearly staged a remarkable comeback after a crash at the first corner but ultimately had to settle for second place.

Despite finishing as the runner-up, Brand's performance was enough to secure her third career victory in the overall classification of the Telenet Superprestige cyclocross series. During the final round in Middelkerke, her lead in the standings was never in jeopardy, as her main rival, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, was not on the start line. Brand will be especially happy to have won this title, after missing out on the world title to Fem van Empel last weekend.

Although she finished behind an impressive Inge van der Heijden in Middelkerke, Lucinda Brand still crossed the finish line as the victor overall, and this marked the former world champion’s first Superprestige title since 2022. Thanks to Brand and Alvarado, a Dutch woman has now won the title for the past six straight seasons.