Van Empel and Brand sprint it out for victory at Benidorm World Cup

World champion Fem van Empel has won three consecutive Benidorm rounds of the World Cup. At Sunday’s tenth round of the 2024-2025 series, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider beat Lucinda Brand in a close sprint. Brand’s overall lead over van Empel is 51 points, and she has one hand on the trophy. Canada’s Rafaelle Carrier clung to the lead in the Junior women’s category after coming second to French rider Lise Revol, who she leads by 14 points in the overall standings with one Junior round to go.

Rafaelle Carrier was 15 points ahead of French rider Lison Desprez at the start of the day. Carrier had pocketed two Junior World Cups wins, along with a third and a sixth. She also placed 19th in an elite World Cup race. Her European campaign also produced a Junior Superprestige win and seventh in an elite round of the X2O Badkamers Trofee.

Preliminaries

Winner of the last round in Dendermonde, Brand enjoyed a commanding lead in the women’s Cup. Van Empel won the women’s race in the last two seasons. Puck Pieterse couldn’t display her first Dutch champion’s jersey, as she was ill. For the first time in 15 years, someone other than Sanne Cant was clad in the Belgian tricolour: Marion Norbert Riberolle.

The Canadians in the elite women’s race were Sidney McGill, Siobhan Kelly and Katelyn Walcroft.

Marie Schreiber took her traditional hole shot on Lap 1. Fem van Empel and Zoe Backstedt kept a close eye on her. The string stayed long in the first half of the circuit. Van Empel slipped into the lead. No gaps opened before the first circuit was completed in eight minutes. McGill was 23rd.

Brand was lurking in fifth at the start of Lap 2. She moved ahead of Backstedt but still had Blanka Vas, Schreiber and van Empel to pass. Two French riders were near the front and they played locomotive for a while before van Empel carried on at the business end of the race. McGill was still 23rd.

Brand had to sew up a gap to Celia Gery at the start of Lap 3 of 6. Amandine Fouquenet played Tailgunner Charlie in a leading group of 11. Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado took over the front. McGill had gained a position.

A quartet flared away at the start of Lap 4: Brand, Alvarado, van Empel and Vas. Backstedt and Marianne Vos pulled the chase group. As Brand continued to insist, Alvarado had difficulty staying attached and then popped off.

Alvarado toiled to reestablish herself in the front group on the penultimate lap, but Brand’s pace was infernal. Surprisingly, some dithering from the trio allowed not only Alvarado to crawl closer, but also the Vos-Backstedt-Schreiber group. A band of ten heard the bell. McGill was still 22nd.

Who could get past Brand on the bell lap? She wanted gaps behind her going into the race’s conclusion. Vos pushed by Vas. Brand split the group in half. Schreiber charged to the front. Van Empel took over. Vos was lagging. Brand grabbed the reins again. Van Empel emerged from the planks in Position 1. In the sprint, Brand couldn’t come around her compatriot, and van Empel collected a fourth round of the series and 10th win overall this season. McGill finished 21st while Schreiber took her third World Cup podium of the 2024-2025 campaign.

The next round is in next Saturday in Maasmechelen, Belgium.

2024-2025 UCI World Cup Round 10, Benidorm, Spain
1) Fem van Empel (The Netherlands/Visma-Lease a Bike) 47:54
2) Lucinda Brand (The Netherland/Baloise-Glowi Lions) s.t.
3) Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg/SD Worx-Protime) +0:02
21) Sidney McGill (Canada) +1:43
58) Siobhan Kelly (Canada)
60) Katelyn Walcroft (Canada)