"One of my best victories" - Fem van Empel decimated but thrilled with epic win against Lucinda Brand at the GP Sven Nys
Cyclocross
Fem van Empel is a proven winner, current World and European Champion, but without a doubt today's win at the GP Sven Nys Baal is one of the very best moments of her still short but successful. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rode an entire race chasing Lucinda Brand, and made the catch mid-sprint to take the opening win of 2025.
"To be honest, after the first lap I didn't believe I could catch them. I kept fighting until the finish. I'm super happy that I'm starting the new year with a victory," van Empel said in an interview with Wielerflits.
Puck Pieterse first took the lead in the race, but Brand then took advantage of the muddy and grinding course. Van Empel crashed on the first lap and lost a bit of time, and she admits that she didn't really believe the win was in reach anymore against a peak form Brand.
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"On this course you see the other ladies riding quite well too. In the post I got the seconds, but I was always fifteen seconds behind. That was still quite a big gap. My part was kind of the last part of the course, where it went uphill". She caught Pieterse, and with a superb technical display on the final lap she took some seconds out of Brand's time. She timed her efforts perfectly, having the legs going uphill to close down the gap in the final corner.
And then, a sprint between two riders that could barely accelerate. "The last time I didn't hesitate. In the sprint I thought: I'm in the wheel now, so now I have to get over it. Fortunately it worked," she sighed.
"I think this is one of my best victories so far. It was really a sprint to the finish. I had to be careful at the end, because there were photographers. Otherwise that might have been a crash," she joked, although it very much was a real possibility as a near photo-finish sprint is almost unseen in the discipline.
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- Your sentence makes no sense.verve82504-01-2025
- Yates is a GT winner, he will be a big part of setting the pace in he high mountains just like Kuss has done in previous years. He is a big name for Visma.awp04-01-2025
- Yes, they're not better than them at coming in 10th placeVeganpotter04-01-2025
- He may not be concerned, exactly, but I guarantee you he is fully conscious of this move: Kuss, Jorgensen, and Yates make for a very powerful domestique, and I think the balance of power may have shifted to Visma.verve82504-01-2025
- I would change the phrase in the heading of this article from "very afraid" to "watch him a bit".Ride197404-01-2025
- You can't tell me he hasn't had a scan or xray to confirm any serious rib damage! What are they hiding?frieders304-01-2025
- I'm sure Tadeg is quite concrened with this...NOT !frieders304-01-2025
- I was hoping to see Tadej’s and understood you’d seen THAT.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- I just used those two as an example of a sport rivalry, could have chosen any other sport but expected people would understand better if I stayed in cycling. That said, you seem to have misinterpreted what I tried to imply or missed that rivalry altogether. Before those two started turning heads on the road, they have a far more interesting and very long relationship in xc. WVA has paid a heavy price for the move to road cycling but he did put up some amazing performances when things were going right, very often taking one for the team which obviously doesn’t show in statistics. Real fans of cycling remember more than just results.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- If you’re going to mention Kuss, you should mention Jorgensson too, potentially he could bring just as much.Mistermaumau04-01-2025