"I have marked both championships on the calendar again" - Fem van Empel doesn't feel like letting go of her titles ahead of CX season start

Cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel is facing a full cyclocross winter and has had a flawless preparation. This is what team manager Jan Boven of Visma | Lease a Bike says in the run-up to the Exact Cross Beringen. The cyclocross season debut for the 22-year-old is scheduled for this Saturday.

After her debut at the Tour de France Femmes, Van Empel concluded her 2024 road campaign. She made another appearance at the Gravel World Championship in Leuven where she finished 52nd and now the focus shifts towards her favourite discipline again.

According to Van Empel, the result on gravel doesn't reflect her form heading into the 2024/25 winter: "I have been able to prepare well in the past months. The first cyclocross of the season is always a benchmark for how the form is, so that brings some tension with it," she says on the team website.

"I hope I can compete for the win right away," she looks forward tothe opening racing weekend in Beringen. Her coach Jan Boven does not want to rush things. "The form is good, but the expectations from outside will be very high right away. The first cross of the season is always exciting, also for us as a team. We are ready for it."

Last winter, Van Empel managed to win the European and World Cyclocross Championships, displaying an overwhelming dominance over her compatriots Ceylin Alvarado (2nd at Euros) and Lucinda Brand (runner-up at Worlds). Defending those titles is high on Van Empel's bucket list in the coming months. "I have marked both championships on the calendar again," says the Brabant rider. "It will be a goal to win those races again, but that actually applies to all the cyclocross races I compete in. I want to get the most out of everything and I want to keep improving myself."