Cyclo-cross World Cup: Powerful Puck Pieterse takes first win of the season in Gavere

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) took victory in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Gavere with a strong performance that saw her lead for more than three laps and hold off a strong cast of chasers.

After battling with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the first two laps, Pieterse pushed ahead in the first half of the race to go solo and build a small but unbeatable gap over the rest of the field and power to her first World Cup win of the season.

Alvarado was in second place for much of the race, but was overtaken by Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) on the final lap, who settled for runner-up spot as her unbeaten streak this season finally came to an end after 11 races. The world champion had crashed earlier in the day whilst reconing the course.

The last time Van Empel didn’t win a race she started was the Dutch National Championships in January, where she was also beaten by Pieterse.

• Read more: Cyclo-cross World Cup: Fem van Empel continues 100% record in Antwerp

"It feels great to be back on top, especially on such a tough course," Pieterse said at the finish.

"Of course I'm really happy. I really wanted to win, and when it works out is the best."

A long-awaited winning ride from Puck Pieterse

It was a fierce battle straight out of the blocks at the start of the race, with Van Empel, Pieterse, Leonie Bentveld (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Marie Schreiber (SD Worx) having the best start. Schreiber took up the lead of the race to begin with for the first part of the opening lap, but was soon overtaken by Pieterse, who took control of the race and forged a small gap ahead of the field.

Racing aggressively, Pieterse crashed on an off-camber descent on the first lap, which allowed Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado to start closing in on her, before another mistake from Pieterse saw the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider overtake and grab the lead.

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The pair went into the second lap with a 15 second lead over Brand and Van Empel, and soon Pieterse kicked on again, opening up a small gap on Alvarado. The Dutch champion looked stronger and more confident, but wasn’t really getting rid of Alvarado, with the World Cup leader lingering just behind her going into the third lap, whilst Brand and Van Empel were together 30 seconds down in the fight for third.

Behind, the likes Blanka Vas (SD Worx) and Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) were chasing for top-5 spots.

On the third lap, Pieterse slowly began to stretch out her lead, with Alvarado trailing by 12 seconds as they started lap 4, whilst Van Empel had finally managed to drop Brand and held firm in third spot. Van Empel started to close in on Alvarado on the fourth lap, and was just a few metres behind her as the pair took the bell.

On the final lap, the powerful Pieterse only looked stronger as her win became assured, but the battle for second began to heat up, with Van Empel overtaking the World Cup leader on one of the early turns of the course. Whilst the gap to Pieterse was too much to close, Van Empel convincingly dropped Alvarado as she watched her chances of winning her 17th race in a row slip away.

Heading into the final throes of the race, Pieterse had time to sit up and high five the crowd as she celebrated her first win of the 2023/24 season, whilst an unhappy Van Empel came home in second, clearly hampered by her earlier crash. Alvarado held on for third, extending her lead in the overall World Cup standings.