Lucinda Brand wins elite women's Cyclo-cross World Cup in Namur

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Lucinda Brand (Telenet-Baloise) increased her lead in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup series after winning the second round in Namur on Sunday. The Dutch rider took a solo victory ahead of American champion Clara Honsinger (Cannondale Cyclocrossworld) in second and Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) in third.

Betsema launched a solo move on the first lap of racing but she was quickly caught by Brand on the second lap. Brand then moved into the lead, and quickly gained time on her rival, covering the hilly and technical course with ease.  

Betsema lost some time due to a flat tire, which allowed Honsinger and world champion Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix) to move forward, and a chase group of three formed.

As Brand orbited the circuit to take commanding victory by nearly half a minute on her competitors, the race for second place heated up.

Alvarado was the first to lose contact with the group, leaving the battle for silver between Honsinger and Betsema in the closing laps. 

Betsema was strongest on the running sections and on the descents, while Honsinger was strongest on the climbs, and that is where the American champion was able to gain time on Betsema on the last lap.

Brand, who had already celebrated her win, had enough time to watch Honsinger cross the line in second place 29 seconds back, while Betsema came in for third an additional nine seconds back.