CYCLO CROSS

With a strong performance and a hard-fought race, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado crossed the finish line second at the European Cyclocross Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. A nail-biting final sprint ultimately won by two-time world champion Fem van Empel.

“Played my cards, result was bittersweet. Sometimes the gamble doesn’t pay off, but the grind was worth it,” wrote the 26-year-old Dutch rider in an Instagram post. While it wasn’t the outcome she expected, Alvarado said she was happy with the work done.

Alvarado went full-throttle through out the 3,350-meters long circuit. “I tried to make it difficult for everyone. I think that I really succeeded towards the end, but in the end, it is all about whether you have a sprint or not. And there was someone with a better sprint,” she said in a post-race interview.

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 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.