X20 Trofee Kortrijk: Fem van Empel continues winning streak despite crash

Despite a dramatic crash into the barriers, Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) took another victory at the X20 Trofee Kortrijk, on an unusual urban cyclocross course straddling the Leie river in western Belgium. This is the seventh consecutive victory for the world champion and puts her almost two minutes ahead of the rest of the field going into the remainder of the series. Behind her, Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) took second and Puck Pieterse (Fenix Deceuninck) took third.

The world champion might have been dominant in this series, indeed in this season generally, but this race was far from a foregone conclusion; the lead was hotly contested between van Empel, Brand and Pieterse, with all three riders putting in convincing attacks at different points in the race. Yet there was nothing her rivals could do that van Empel couldn’t respond to. The long, straight sections of the course gave her the space she needed to regain contact with any attack, and ultimately go clear in the penultimate lap.

From the very start, Pieterse and van Empel lead the field. The unusual urban course saw the riders switching from tarmac to mud and back again, with both long, fast sections and slow, technical sections. The transitions created heavily rutted mud, which caught a number of riders out throughout the race. Luxemborgish rider Maité Barthels had particularly bad luck in the mud, with her bike getting caught for a few seconds early on.

The field found their places in the first lap, and all focus turned to the lead group. Puck Pieterse and Fem van Empel took turns leading the race, and had soon gained a few seconds on the field. Behind them, though, Lucinda Brand, last year’s series winner, refused to let the two riders go, clinging on with a few bike lengths between herself and the leaders.

Despite attacks from Brand and Pieterse, van Empel controlled the race, until a rut cast her over the bars and into the hoarding. Her rivals attacked, and for a moment it seemed the world champion’s winning streak was at an end.

And yet, van Empel recovered, regained contact, and overtook with remarkable ease. She entered the final lap in first, then crystalised her lead, coming through the line 26 seconds ahead of Brand and 1:05 ahead of Pieterse.

Now with almost two minutes over second place, van Empel seems securely in the lead of the X20 Trofee series. Even so, with six races left in the calendar for this series, there is plenty of time for her rivals to topple her lead.