Puck Pieterse returns to ‘cross racing at Namur World Cup
Lucinda Brand keeps bossing season with tenth win
Puck Pieterse made her season debut at Sunday’s fourth round of the 2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in difficult but dry Namur, Belgium. Pieterse placed fourth. Lucinda Brand kept up her magnificent season, racking up her 10th victory. Runner-up Aniek van Alphen clung to her series lead. Sidney McGill was top Canadian in 21st.
Preliminaries
Yet another Lucinda Brand victory on Sardinia failed to knock runner-up Aniek van Alphen off the top of the table.
The Canadian contingent was the stalwart Sidney McGill, national champion Maghalie Rochette and Dorothee Perron.
Inge van der Heijden, who triumphed in Saturday’s Leiecross round of the Exact Cross series, had a good start, as did Amandine Fouquenet. The riders immediately began to climb. McGill was up to eighth very early. Fouquenet pushed away from the others, her French compatriot Celia Gery the closest pursuer. Brand overtook Gery and then Fouquenet. Pieterse was in fifth. Brand finished the first 2.3-km circuit in 6:49. McGill was 13th, Rochette was 36th and Perron 47th.
At the beginning of Lap 2, Pieterse had worked her way to Position 3. Van Alphen and Swiss rider Jolanda Neff lurked just behind. Brand kept up her assault. On the cobbled climb Puck slotted into second place. Brand’s lead was nine seconds at the line. McGill raced in 17th, Rochette in 32nd and Perron in 47th.
Fouquenet began to sift down the stack on Lap 3. By Lap 4 of 7 Brand was 12 seconds clear and van Alphen had moved past Pieterse. Fouquenet and Puck pitched their own podium battle 12 seconds behind van Alphen. McGill was 19th, Rochette 28th and Perron 46th.
The positions at the business end of the race stayed the same on Lap 5 except that Pieterse began to flag. Brand could afford a couple of small errors with her healthy gap back to van Alphen.
Pieterse kept Fouquenet within hailing distance on the last two laps, but she just couldn’t run down the French champion. Brand hasn’t finished lower than second in 12 competitions this season.
The next rounds are next Saturday and Sunday in Antwerp and Koksijde.
2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Round 4, Namur
1) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands/Baloise-Glowi Lions) 52:23
2) Aniek van Alphen (The Netherlands/Seven) +0:43
3) Amandine Fouquent (France/Arkea-B&B) +1:00
21) Sidney McGill (Canada) +5:25
23) Maghalie Rochette (Canada) +6:08
46) Dorothee Perron (Canada)