Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) put two weeks of sickness with the flu behind her and finished runner-up in the cyclo-cross World Cup at Antwerp.<\/p>\n
The former cyclocross World Champion was forced to pull out during the World Cup at Terralba two weeks ago due to sickness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n However, she was back in action at Antwerp on Saturday and was the only rider able to follow the relentless pace of Lucinda Brand (Baloise-Glowi Lions) in the final two laps.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Brand eventually forced a slender gap on the final lap before making mistakes, allowing Alvarado to fight for the victory. However, the Baloise-Glowi Lions rider proved too strong on the final straights and won by two seconds. Alvarado admitted that she was already tired, making beating Brand \u2018difficult\u2019 even with her mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a few difficult weeks behind me,\u201d said Alvarado. \u201cToday, I was a bit stressed because I didn’t know how it would be. In the end it was a very good day.<\/p>\n \u201cI had gone deep from the beginning to the end of the day. It was very tight racing. A bit technical, of course, because of the sand but tactical as well.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end, she [Brand] was, of course, the strongest. It was going to be a bit difficult for me anyway [to win], because my candle went out a bit towards the end.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to hope for a mistake or something from her, which made my chances grow a little more. But even then, I knew it was going to be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Alvarado was forced to delay the start of her cyclo-cross season by two months due to persistent knee problems, returning for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup round at Flamanville<\/a> where she finished third, despite admitting that she \u2018suffered a lot\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The 2020 world, European and Dutch cyclo-cross champion started the following week in the World Cup at Terralba, however, she fell down the pack early on, and despite chasing back to seventh position she withdrew.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n After that withdrawal her team posted on social media: “She doubted prior to the cross whether she should start, but decided to try anyway. Soon she felt that it was not possible.”<\/p>\n Having missing last weekend\u2019s World Cup at Namur the Dutch rider was back in action and racing for the win at Antwerp, showing the kind of technical skills which have earned her World Cup wins at Zonhoven and Koksijde in previous years.<\/p>\n When asked what was the difference in the final lap, Alvarado added: \u201cI think it’s not an excuse, of course, but being sick in the past two weeks hasn’t been easy. Today was also quite hard for me. And towards the end of the race, I was very tired.\u201d<\/p>\n The race at Antwerp was the first of 12 races in 15 days during the notorious Kerstperiode of cyclocross races in Belgium. With the World Cup round at Koksijde to follow on Sunday, Alvarado hopes that she can build her form in the forthcoming weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cLucinda [Brand] is just in top form, we can’t ignore that,\u201d added Alvarado. \u201cI’m still improving and the past two weeks of being sick hadn’t been easy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis race certainly gave me good courage and hopefully it can only get better. And my form is also growing into a top form, but I certainly have confidence that it will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n