“The mistakes were decisive today” – Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado & Puck Pieterse can only laugh at crash-marred chaos of World Cup Zonhoven

Surviving Zonhoven mattered as much as strength, and for Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, that balance shaped one of the most emotional victories of her career. On a course where even the favourites were repeatedly caught out, the defending champion emerged from a race defined by errors, resets and relentless pressure.

Reflecting on her second straight World Cup victory in the Limburg sand, Alvarado admitted perfection was never part of the equation.

“Yes, it was an emotional win,” she said in post-race interview quotes collected by afterwards. “I made a lot of mistakes. I rode for too long on the wrong tyres, so it was very slippery for me. But I never gave up. As I said before, the mistakes were decisive today. Everyone made mistakes.”

That acknowledgement summed up a race in which momentum shifted constantly. Alvarado was forced to respond to crashes, time losses and renewed pressure in the closing laps, yet found the composure to commit fully when the final opportunity appeared. On a circuit that punished hesitation, persistence proved decisive.

For Puck Pieterse, the day unfolded with equal parts frustration and perspective. After lighting up the opening laps with an explosive start, her race was repeatedly disrupted by falls, including a dramatic sequence in the sand that briefly brought all three main contenders down.

“It was quite funny,” Pieterse admitted afterwards. “I survived the first passage of the Kuil. Then we went in for the second time. I took the wrong line and went over my handlebars. I thought, I’ve made another mistake, the rest will pass me now. But then I saw Lucinda fall and thought, okay, I’m not the only one. And then Ceylin fell as well. I had to laugh that all three of us crashed.”

Rather than dwell on the lost momentum, Pieterse framed the moment as a reflection of how unforgiving Zonhoven can be at full intensity. “I think it shows how hectic a start like that can be. I don’t think we were the only three who crashed. It’s super tricky to ride here, especially when your heart rate is that high.”

Between them, Alvarado and Pieterse captured the defining truth of this World Cup round: on a day where everyone made mistakes, the result was shaped not by avoiding chaos, but by how riders responded once it arrived.