"She never lets up" - Fem van Empel has her hardest earned victory in Herentals against Lucinda Brand

Fem van Empel had a very difficult challenge this afternoon in Herentals but came out with another win. The Dutch rider won a sprint against Lucinda Brand after a race where she couldn't distance a rival for the first time this winter.

"I've been in bed all week. Then you see how quickly your body has trouble digesting that stimulus. But at least I'm happy that I'm reasonably healthy again. From now on things can only get a little better physically," van Empel said in a post-race interview. The Jumbo-Visma rider was training and also suffered a crash which saw her knee bandaged today, but that was still not enough for her not to win. She has spent now 11 months unbeatable in the discipline.

However, it may have been her toughest one. “Lucinda Brand was super strong today. For me it was a bit of a shock to the system after last week. But that does not detract from Brand's performance, because you can see again: she never lets up," she said. Van Empel attacked several times but Brand always get back to her wheel, including twice in the final lap. It ended up being a sprint finish, but the World Champion had the legs in the finishing straight to keep her winning streak this season.

It is a goal for her to win the X2O Badkamers Trofee, and this triumph further boosts her chances as she extended her lead to Denise Betsema who was in second place previously. “It's a few extra seconds, that's nice. There are still a number of crosses in the new year, so I'm curious. In any case, I'm going for it.”