“I am now going to next week in good spirits" - Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado goes into European Championships with 'good feeling' following victory at Superprestige Ruddervoorde

After finishing on the podium in her first three races of the campaign, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has finally managed to cross the line with her arms aloft in victory at Superprestige Ruddervoorde. 

“I'm quite happy with that,” she says modestly in her post-race interview. It was a dominant performance by Alvarado who was at the front throughout the race. “It felt a bit ambiguous. The first part of the race was quite tough. The lap was tough and the riding was fast. I think the second part of the race went better.”

Having initially broken clear alongside Annemarie Worst, Alvarado put the hammer down in laps 3 and 4 to really press home her advantage and ride ahead solo. "It was quite easy to make mistakes here and, due to the surface, I also found it was not always possible to click into my pedals," she recaps. "In the end, fatigue affected them and that made the difference.”

“I may have been the big favourite, but I didn't see it that way. And I don't experience that pressure either," she concludes, noting the absence of Fem van Empel. Nevertheless heading into the European Championships, Alvarado is understandably confident. “I am now going to next week in good spirits. I hope to go home with the best possible result and I have a good feeling about it.”