Chaos and crashes at the penultimate round of the World Cup

A greasy quagmire made Saturday’s 11th and penultimate round of the 2024-2025 UCI World Cup in muddy Maasmechelen, Belgium and chaotic hour of crashes in the elite women’s race. Hungary’s Blanka Vas impressed with her first victory of the year. Canada’s Isabella Holmgren placed 12th. Third-place Lucinda Brand had the series title wrapped up.

Preliminaries

Lucinda Brand’s lead atop the standings seemed insurmountable for Fem van Empel 51 points back. Van Empel had tallied four rounds, Brand two, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado two and Marie Schreiber one. Van Empel had also claimed last season’s Maasmechelen round.

The Canadians were Bella Holmgren, Sidney McGill, Christiane Bilodeau, Katelyn Walcroft and Siobhan Kelly.

Van Empel claimed the hole shot on Lap 1, but Vas stole the front. Alvarado had aspirations on Saturday and she took over. New Dutch champion Puck Pieterse had to make her way up from the second row. Van Empel, Vas, Brand, Alvarado and Zoe Backstedt formed the leading group. All sorts of difficulties hung up the riders, and Backstedt was a little behind van Empel, Vas, Brand and Alvarado at the end of the lap. Holmgren was 21st.

Van Empel fell and was snagged in the netting in the off-camber section at the start of Lap 2. Vas kept up her efforts at the front with Brand right behind her. Pieterse and Backstedt were the nearest chasers. Pieterse kept hustling and was soon in Position 2. Van Empel was 25 seconds in arrears by the line. Holmgren had raced up to 14th.

On Lap 3 of 5 Backstedt found Vas’s back wheel. Brand and Pieterse continued their chase and caught up. Backstedt punched out a little space, crossing the line a few seconds before Brand and Pieterse, with Vas showing the effects of her earlier work. Bella was knocking on the top-10’s door.

The penultimate lap‘s off-camber section saw van Empel endo and Alvarado slide into her. Brand caught and dispatched Backstedt. With fifth place 28 seconds back, it was clear that the winner and podium were in the leading quartet. Backstedt pried out another gap and led into the “wet cement” section. Holmgren was still 12th.

The order was Vas, Backstedt, Pieterse and Brand in the first half of the bell lap. Pieterse augered in on the planks and looked grimly at her bike, her chances of victory scuppered. Vas moved clear Backstedt and Brand. In the final 200 metres Backstedt came back to Vas, but the Brit couldn’t sprint around the Hungarian.

Tomorrow is the final round in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands.

2024-2025 UCI World Cup Round 11, Maasmechelen
1) Kata Blanka Vas (Hungary/SD Worx-Protime) 48:58
2) Zoe Backstedt (Great Britain/Canyon-SRAM) +0:01
3) Lucinda Brand (The Netherland/Baloise-Glowi Lions) +0:12
12) Isabella Holmgren (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +2:14
29) Sidney McGill (Canada) +5:30
66) Christiane Bilodeau (Canada)
67) Siobhan Kelly (Canada)
69) Katelyn Walcroft (Canada)