"I didn't get off well in the first lap" - Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado faced but succeeded in tough task to win Superprestige Merksplas

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has won her last three Superprestige Cup races, all the ones where Fem van Empel has not started, and today won in Merksplas to extend her lead in the cup.

“I actually didn't feel very good during the race. I didn't get off well in the first lap and Lucinda immediately opened the gas tap. I was also held up a bit, so it was a big gap quite quickly," Alvarado said in a post-race interview. "It was a real fight to close it and get past it. Of course I really had to give up riding back in the first two laps, because she was riding fast. It was done and done. Of course she had to give too, so I thought: if I want to ride away, this might be my chance. She made a mistake, which immediately widened the gap."

However Alvarado was the strongest in the muddy circuit, and could create the difference in the technical sections. "But on the third lap I had to recover and ride a bit more calmly. Otherwise I might overshoot myself. She came back, but I was eventually able to widen the gap again.” Everything worked out in the end, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider extended her gap over Annemarie Worst and cemented herself further in the lead of the Superprestige.

Asked if she had worked on her running, where she has been quite strong this year, she concludes: "No actually not. I think running is going well for me anyway. And if the condition is better, it will of course be a bit easier. That also appears to be the case.” Tomorrow she will already be back to action in the Troyes World Cup.