"That bike change turned out to be decisive" - A tactical mistake costs Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado victory in Diegem

It was a close battle between two Dutch cyclocross stars. Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado spent most of the Diegem Cross at the front, trying to find any opening on each other. It was ultimately a battle of wits and the more experienced of the two came on top of the night cross.

At the penultimate lap, it seemed like Alvarado would gain an upper hand as she gained a few meters on her counterpart. As they approached the service station, Alvarado thought it would have been nice to trade her lead to have a clean bike for the last part of the race. However Brand didn't waste a second and immediately accelerated away from Alvarado. The Fenix-Deceuninck rider gave her best effort to close the gap, but on the long asphalt climb couldn't bridge to the Dutch champion who took her second Superprestige victory of the season.

How does Alvarado look back on her cross? "Second place was perhaps the highest achievable, who knows," she said afterwards in an interview with Sporza. "Lucinda saw an opportunity during that bike change and seized it with both hands. That change ultimately did not work out so well and turned out to be the decision. Was this the highest achievable? Yes and no actually."

That it was a mistake to change bikes Alvarado realized very quickly: "I felt after my bike change that it was going to be difficult, but I almost reached her wheel. Then Lucinda looked back and saw that I wasn't completely connected yet. She decided to accelerate again. At that moment I had no answer to her attack."

At the end of the day, Alvarado managed to limit the damage in the Superprestige standings with her second place. She is still in the lead, although her advantage has shrunk to one point. "If we keep fighting and there is only one place between us, it will remain exciting. But that also means that she needs two more points, so we will see with two more races to go," Alvarado concludes.