"I'm definitely looking forward to that" - Fem van Empel heads to World Cup opener high on confidence after Urban Cross rout

Back in the field for the first time in just short of three weeks at Urban Cross Kortrijk on Saturday afternoon, Fem van Empel showed she hadn't lost a step as the world champion thundered to a dominant victory.

“This feels great. I am happy to be back and starting with a victory is always fun," the Dutchwoman reflected in her post-race interview afterwards. “I haven’t been sitting still, so I was confident. But the weather was quite different than when you train in warm temperatures. There may have been some doubts about that, but otherwise no doubts.”

Whilst it was dry, the coldness of the conditions and the sharpness of the wind actually led to Van Empel's aggressive start to the race. "It was very cold. That's why I rode fast from the start, to keep myself a bit warm," she explains. "The wind was blowing very hard. That also made it more cold."

Following this winning return to action, Van Empel now also heads to the World Cup opener in Antwerp this Sunday full of confidence. "It's the first World Cup, with a large field of participants and a nice course. I'm definitely looking forward to that," she previews. "I have trained quite a lot. But we will see how it goes in the coming weeks."