Superprestige Merksplas: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado holds off Lucinda Brand for victory
Marie Schreiber third at Aardbeiencross
Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) held off a chasing Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) to claim her fifth victory of the season in Merksplas at the fourth round of the Superprestige on Saturday.
Alvarado eeked out a small gap after making her way to the front of the five-rider lead group before a technical section on the penultimate lap. The former world champion kept up the pressure, building a five-second lead over Brand and Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) as the bell rang for the final lap.
A bobble before the sand pit forced Alvarado to dismount and run while behind, Brand threw down the power, narrowing the gap down to just two seconds. Despite the pressure, Alvarado managed to hold on, claiming her third consecutive win at the Aardbeiencross.
Schreiber took third on a fast and windy course where group racing played a significant role throughout the race.
After taking the holeshot, Schreiber led from the start, using her road skills to get a small gap after the first lap as a chase group formed behind her. The Luxembourg champion was joined mid-race by Brand, Alvarado, Sara Casasola (Crelan-Correndon), Inge Inge van der Heijden (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Annemarie Worst (Fenix-Deceuninck) midway through the six-lap race.
Brand capitalised on a mistake by van der Heijen on a technical section to briefly break away, but Alvarado, with Schreiber on her wheel, managed to close the gap to the Dutch champion and reclaimed control.
Casasola took fourth, and Van der Heijden was fifth.
Alvarado takes over the Superprestige leaderboard with 57 points, one point over Brand. Casasola is in third with 47 points.
Results
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Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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