"The perfect record stays!" Fem van Empel cruises to victory in Antwerp! 👏👏 1️⃣1️⃣ races, 1️⃣1️⃣ wins 🤯 #CXWorldCup
"I hope that I will be at 100 percent again by next week" - Fem van Empel overcomes illness to make it 11 straight wins this winter
CyclocrossSaturday, 23 December 2023 at 15:00
The dominance Fem van Empel holds over women's cyclocross shows no signs of slowing down. Despite battling an illness, the 21-year-old world champion made it 11 straight wins to start the winter in Antwerp.
“I'm very happy. My start was quite good from the second row,” recapped van Empel in her post-race interview. “During the race I felt very strong. I kind of miss being able to push myself to the limit because of last week (her illness ed.). It was a very tough race. But I had a lot of confidence, I jumped over the beams the first time.”
For much of the first half of the race, van Empel struggled to rid Lucinda Brand from her company. Although she did manage to drop the former world champion eventually, van Empel admits her attack was something of an accident.
“I actually didn't even realize that she wasn't going along with it. Then you try to put pressure on her," she explains. "I felt like it was tough. It took me a while to get into it, but it felt good. It is an advantage that I have been able to do a little less in terms of training, although that may also mean I will fall short in the coming weeks. I hope that I will be at 100 percent again by next week and that we will have such great matches again.”
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- That’s the most stupid thing I’ve read for a long time, did you not go to school and learn even the most basic physics? Aero depends on one thing only, drag, drag depends speed and the relationship is squared and apart from maybe at zero or the speed of sound or due to side winds that relationship is valid at all speeds, it dies not “suddenly” start at a magic number. Very simply, the faster you go the more the effect becomes important. If you think 25km/h is needed to have noticeable effects you’re delusional, athletic WR are cancelled as soon as winds top 2m/s that’s 7.2km/h, why because the assistance is already too important at that speed and the times prove it. You don’t even consider wind which can significantly increase the effective speed for aerodynamics and you underestimate speed of climbs, 6% is ridden more at 30 than 25km/h, a speed at which early generation high rims were considered to have more advantages than disadvantages. And finally, as in normal races you can’t just switch bikes according to terrain, it’s pretty pointless to discuss climbs as a separate situation, the aero will have justified itself plenty during the rest of the ride.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- If you look at how much TP progressed in that 1 1/2 years you can no longer say that’s nothing. If Remco improves as much he’s a challenger!Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Froome wishing to ride the Vuelta...he won't even be selected for the team!frieders320-12-2024
- Keep telling yourself that Remco but you not only have Tadeg to beat but Jonas!frieders320-12-2024
- Seems farfetched - I agree. Mas has beaten him once. Giro d'Emillia I think - 2022mobk20-12-2024
- Barring injuries, by the time Pogacar's dominance fads there will be lots of new young talent. Pogacar is about 1 1/2 years older than Remco. That's nothing.Sweep20-12-2024
- I actually don’t find that too impressive. In my later forties I did similar figures for a 3.5% gradient as a total nobody with no wind assistance. Am sure there’s margin for improvement there, especially looking at all the names on that list.Mistermaumau20-12-2024
- Jonas', was 6 years agospock12320-12-2024
- The race where he overnight suddenly turned nuclear after being packfodder at best for several years. His Sky days after that Vuelta and Pogačar’s last season shall remain the darkest post Lance stuff cycling has witnessed. Good riddance Froome.
UltimateOpportunist20-12-2024 - Finishing the Vuelta seems to be a reasonably attainable goal. Getting on the team to do that will be the more difficult challenge.
santiagobenites20-12-2024