Fem van Empel wins Waterloo Cyclo-Cross World Cup

Fem Van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) returned to the cyclo-cross World Cup in winning fashion with a commanding win over Puck Pieterse and Ceylin Carmen Alvarado at the first stop of the World Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

The race was dominated by the world champion Van Empel, with her big rival Pieterse making early mistakes that slowed her down, and the riders behind her. With Pieterse coming off of a summer full of mountain biking, culminating in an overall win in the World Cup, she could be forgiven for coming into cyclo-cross a bit rusty with her technique.

In the end, however, those technical differences turned into a gulf between the top riders.

“I did not know what happened in the race because I did not accelerate,” Van Empel said after the race. “I heard [the crash] but I did not accelerate at the moment. I rode my own pace and it was enough to get a gap.”

While the final lap was devoid of drama, with the placements largely staying the same, the results have shown what the pecking order will be for at least the next couple of weeks.

At the top is the world champ Van Empel, while once again her big rival, Pieterse, was 33 seconds behind the solo winner. Third place was yet another Dutch-women in Alvarado, while the big surprise was Maghalie Rochett (Rapha) who finished a strong fourth place, while Zoë Backstedt (Canyon-SRAM) finished fifth.

How it happened

After one attempt at the start failed due to a strange lights malfunction, the race got underway with Van Empel taking the hole-shot as she was tracked by her main rivals Puck Pieterse and Zoë Backstedt.

On the first lap Van Empel and Pieterse traded places at the front of affairs and Alvarado and Backstedt were close on their heels. A bobble through the barriers for Van Empel sent Pieterse through to the front, but the world champion was able to return quickly. Through the line Alvarado was the third member on the lead back, as the rest of the race faded back.

On the second lap, Van Empel was able to continue to push the pace on the front and soon dispatched Alvardo and then later Pieterse. By the end of the lap it was ten seconds back to Pietres and a further twenty seconds back. Zoe Backstedt was fighting in the top five, but the pair was out of the fight for first as they were close to a minute backback.

On the third lap, with five total to race, Van Empel was turning the screws with the smooth style of the world champion proving to be faster than the rest on the rapidly drying course. With her rivals firmly in her rear view, Van Empel looked fully in control without a grimace on her face throughout the whole race.

With the bell ringing for the last lap, the gap to Pieterse was 29 seconds, while it was 1:11 back to Alvarado. Maghalie Rochett put on a very strong second half of the race and was closing in on the podium, 1:40 down on the lead.

The last was all but a formality as Van Empel was able to celebrate her win over the fly-over with a few corners left to race.