Superprestige Ruddervoorde: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado powers to first win of cyclo-cross season

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin–Deceuninck) opened her win tally for the cyclo-cross season as she powered to a dominant victory in the second round of the Superprestige series in Ruddervoorde.

Having finished second in two of her three ‘cross races this season, the Dutchwoman made the step up to the top spot of the podium through a dominant performance, finishing comfortably clear of Annemarie Worst (Cyclocross Reds) in second and Marion Norbert Riberolle (Crelan-Corendon) in third.

• Read more: Superprestige Overijse: Unstoppable Fem van Empel storms to victory

Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) has dominated the ‘cross season so far but the Dutchwoman chose to skip Saturday’s race to focus on the second round of the Cyclo-cross World Cup on Sunday. In her absence multiple riders attempted to seize the initiative and put pressure on at the front of the race.

The first of those was Marie Schreiber (SD Worx) who set an infernal pace over the opening lap, but she was quickly surpassed by Annemarie Worst who took over duties at the front. That pressure briefly achieved a small gap but the chasing group of Schreiber, Alvarado and Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon) kept the Dutchowman on a tight leash.

By the end of the second lap Worst had been absorbed and it was Alvarado who made her first move of the race, taking advantage of a technical sand section on the second lap to string things out. Only Worst was able to follow and the pair exchanged attacks over the next two laps before Alvarado’s technical superiority shone through on the fourth of six laps as she slowly built a lead.

The duo were evenly matched for the rest of the race and that lead was never more than around 15 seconds, but Alvarado kept her cool to safely navigate the final laps and hold on for her maiden victory of the season.

Marion Norbert Riberolle powered through the field late on to take her first podium finish at a 'cross race since January.