"I knew that today I wasn't going to win" - Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado reacts to mechanical issue at Rapencross

Fem van Empel absent was not present at the Rapencross Lokeren, and Lucinda Brand won the race relatively comfortably. Her main rival, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, was unfortunate when her race was derailed by mechanical issues in the first lap, leaving her to chase behind and claw her way back into podium contention.

When asked if the mechanical problem cost her the victory, Alvarado responded, “That is quite a statement, yes,” she said. “We were riding over the beams, and I touched my pedal with my foot. My pedal went backwards, but I was not at my lightest, so normally it should never have come off. It did, and I couldn't get it back on the bike. It took a while before I got it back on.”

The mishap over the beams caused the former world champion to drop from third to tenth place. Although she managed to fight her way back towards the front, she could not catch Brand who stormed ahead to win. “It was just a bit too long for me, I think. The course was difficult to pass the riders. So every time I made up two or three seconds, I lost it again behind someone who was riding slower than me. It was a difficult race,” Alvarado admitted.

Alvarado closed the gap to just twelve seconds behind Brand with less than two laps remaining, but the effort of her comeback had drained her energy, leaving her unable to push further. “In the last lap I didn't get any closer and I knew that today it wasn't going to win. I have to be satisfied with second place and think about tomorrow.”