“Made a lot of small mistakes, which ultimately made big differences" - Lucinda Brand & Puck Pieterse left rueing mistakes as Van Empel takes victory in Gavere

Fem van Empel soloed to a very impressive victory on Boxing Day at World Cup Gavere. Behind the world champion though, there was an intense battle taking place for 2nd on the podium, between Lucinda Brand and Puck Pieterse.

Pieterse was nearest to Van Empel over the first couple of laps, but as the sheer brutality of the Gavere course began to take hold on the Dutch prodigy, the more experienced Brand came through and eventually secured second behind Van Empel, doing enough to keep her lead in the overall World Cup standings.

The Dutch national champion wasn't completely satisfied by her performance though, despite finishing second overall. “It wasn’t great,” Brand reflected honestly in her immediate post-race interview afterwards. “I just lacked the freshness and made a lot of small mistakes, which ultimately made big differences. It certainly wasn’t bad, but if I could get rid of those small mistakes I would have been in the running for the win for much longer. That would definitely have been better for my morale.”

Pieterse too, was left rueing a collection of little mistakes despite her podium finish. "This was one of my best starts this season and I managed to keep my pace well. Lucinda passed me in the last laps, but I knew she was a strong runner," Pieterse analysed. "She struggled for a bit, but in the last few minutes she still pulled away from me. Next time I might have to choose better lines."