"Lucinda was almost on my wheel" - Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado survives late Brand fightback to take another Superprestige success

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has once again been one of the stars of women's cyclocross so far this winter. On Saturday afternoon at Superprestige Aardbeiencross Merksplas, the former world champion took her victory tally to 5 for the season. 

In a closely fought battle, it wasn't until lap 5 that Alvarado managed to get separation from her rivals. Even once she did it qasn't completely certain of her victory until the very final pedal strokes though as Lucinda Brand battled hard to get back into contact at the front, almost managing to complete the comeback too.

“We already saw in Lokeren that Lucinda and I are evenly matched. I took that moment, but the last lap was really tough,” the leader of Fenix-Deceuninck reflected in her post-race interview afterwards. “I was tired and was still thinking that I had to get through that sand passage one more time to win, but then it went wrong halfway and I lost focus.”

And it was that lost focus that almost proved costly. “I was running as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast anymore. Lucinda was practically on my wheel, but I just kept riding to the finish line because the sprint was too short to really sprint,” Alvarado recalls. "I had to dig deep, but that gap made me seize my moment. I knew that on such a fast lap it would be difficult to close the gap, unless you have super legs."