Victory for Ceylin Alvarado at Superprestige Ruddervoorde
What a spectacular second week of the cyclo-cross season for Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. After an opening podium at Exact Cross Beringen, the FENIX-Deceuninck rider won both Kermiscross Ardooie and Superprestige Ruddervoorde.
“A less season opener with a few mechanicals but ending the first week with a hard-fought victory made up for it. Grateful for a good week of racing,” Alvarado wrote on an Instagram post, where she acknowledged that it felt great “to have such a good start after some hectic and uncertain months.”
At Kermiscross Ardooie, the Dutch rider secured a solo victory after launching a decisive attack on the third lap. In an impressive show of strength and speed, she crossed the finish line 28 seconds ahead Marion Norbert Riberolle (Crelan-Corendon) and 48 seconds in front of Alicia Franck (De Ceuster-Bowpunt).
Three days later, Alvardo won the first round of the Telenet Superprestige series. What a race! She dominated the course along Fem van Empel (Team Visma-Lease a Bike, Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) and Sara Casasola (Crelan-Corendon). Not even a fall on the second to last lap deterred her focus. She was explosive uphill and sped through the sand sections, which allowed her to dash for the finish line ahead of Van Empel and Brand.
Ceylin Alvarado opens her Cyclo-cross season with a podium!
Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado celebrated the start of her 2024-2025 Cyclo-cross season with a strong second place at the opening round of the Exact Cross series in Beringen. This was also her debut with the FENIX-Deceuninck jersey, after racing under Alpecin-Deceuninck for the past five years.
Alvarado crossed the finish line 42 seconds after world champion Fem van Empel and 34 seconds ahead of Lucinda Brand. The FENIX-Deceuninck rider started the race with a lead but a crashed on the second lap forced her to change her bike. However, she quickly got back and managed to regain positions throughout the muddy course.
Van der Poel wins his first Gravel World Championship
With a spectacular solo win in Leuven, Mathieu van der Poel is the new Gravel World Championship. The victory further confirms his cycling versatility and multidisciplinarity, adding an eight World Champion title to his palmarès.
“It was a big goal for me. It’s super nice to add another rainbow to the collection, in another discipline as well, so I’m super happy with this one. It’s super nice also to finish the season like this. It’s amazing,” said Van der Poel in a post-race interview.
The Dutchman wrote aggressively throughout the Belgian course, attacking early and going briefly solo after 60 km and later again with 13.5 km before the finish line. “I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible because I knew on the local lap with a big group it could be a difficult situation for me. I tried to put everyone on the limit. When Florian (Vermeersch) went, we had a good cooperation. My legs were also hurting. You never know in a sprint, especially on a gravel bike, so I tried one last time on the hardest section of the course, and it’s always nice when you find yourself alone like this.”
The Gravel rainbow jersey is the last in a list of eight World Championships won by Van der Poel, including one on road (2023) and six in cyclo-cross (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024).
Second for Christina Schweinberger at Binche Chimay Binche
The fourth edition of Binche Chimay Binche pour Dames finished with a bunch sprint which saw Christina Schweinberger crossing the finish line second. Her FENIX-Deceuninck teammate Marthe Truyen was fifth.
The 117.2-km-long course is known for its final climb along the famously cobbled Rue de la Pepinière, which must be completed less than a kilometer before its also cobbled finish. The race, held between the Belgian cities if Binche and Chimay in Wallonia, is one of the last dates in the road calendar.
