"Race by race" - Fem van Empel wins World Cup opener but is still undecided on whether she'll target cup win
Cyclocross
Fem van Empel has not so far had the dominant season that she had last year, but when it matters she strikes hard. After winning in Kortrijk on Saturday, she made Sunday's World Cup Antwerpen look easy and took a very comfortable win with an attack on the second lap.
“I didn’t sit still during my training period. It’s always nice when you have that cross feeling again. On this course, it’s mainly a matter of staying focused and riding," van Empel said in a post-race interview. After her triumph at the European Championships she went on a training camp, and resumed racing this weekend where she won two for two, with ease.
Today in Antwerpen she quickly caught up with the initial attack of Marie Schreiber to move into the race lead, and on lap 2 she attacked and stormed to a win where no-one was even close to matching her. The technical and sandy course gave no chance to other riders, Lucinda Brand being the closest. 31 seconds back.
“It’s better to choose your own lines here. I tried to ride a steady pace. That was also tough to stay ahead. The wind did indeed play an important role," she said. "It’s very open here and you really notice that on the bike. Only in the material post that was less the case.”
The Dutchwoman said that she will miss the World Cup race in Cabras in December, but this does not mean that she won't aim for the World Cup win and today's performance will be the perfect start for that ambition. “I just try to make the best of every race. I won't contest one round, but that doesn't mean I can't win the World Cup. We'll see. Race by race," she concluded.
Read also
🏆 UCI World Cup Antwerpen 🇧🇪
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) November 24, 2024
🥇 🇳🇱 Fem van Empel
🥈 🇳🇱 Lucinda Brand
🥉 🇱🇺 Marie Schreiber
4 🇮🇹 Casasola
5 🇳🇱 Alvarado
6 🇭🇺 Vas
7 🇬🇧 Backstedt
8 🇳🇱 Van der Heijden
9 🇧🇪 Verdonschot
10 🇳🇱 Worst
#CXWorldCuphttps://t.co/TG259JFf6y
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024