Saturday’s elite women’s race put a punctuation point on the end of the 2026 UCI Cyclocross World Championships’ first day of individual competition, Lucinda Brand taking her second rainbow jersey amid crashes, an angry shove and plenty of intrasquad slicing and dicing. Sidney McGill was top Canadian in 16th.

McGill comes off of the planks.

Preliminaries

After achieving a natural hat trick of world titles in Liévin, Fem van Empel put her career on hiatus following an indifferent start to the 2025-2026 season. However, the home Netherlands squad was still stacked with four-time World Cup titlist Lucinda Brand, last weekend’s World Cup double winner Puck Pieterse and Dutch champ Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. Revelation of the season Amandine Fouquenet represented the French resistance.

Sidney McGill was top Canadian last February in France at 16th. She was back alongside national champion Maghalie Rochette.

Rochette before the start.

The front row was a sea of Dutch orange. Pieterse grabbed the hole shot, Alvarado in her back pocket. Kate Blanka Vas put herself up with the Dutch mob. Czech Kristýna Zemanová pressured the Dutch from behind. Pieterse bunnyhopped the planks, while Alvarado and Brand carried. Pieterse, Alvarado, Brand, Vas, Zemanová and Jolanda Neff formed the leading sextet, Amandine Fouquenet chasing hard. McGill was 18th, Rochette 24th.

Puck blazed the trail on Lap 1.

Alvarado seized the reins at the start of Lap 2, trimming Zemanová from the group. The string lengthened again before the long carry-up. Pieterse went over the top of her teammate, picking up the pace to seperate the Dutch again. Pieterse had a couple of seconds over her compatriots as she pounded a gel going over the line. McGill was 18th, Rochette 24th.

Brand found Pieterse on Lap 3 and they distanced Alvarado. After Brand accelerated, Pieterse crashed on a steep descent. Puck’s hopes were dashed, Vas and Neff scooping her up. Brand finished the lap six seconds ahead of Alvarado, seemingly the only rider who could catch this year’s World Cup titlist. McGill raced in 17th, Rochette 28th.

This crash scuppered Pieterse’s hopes.

On Lap 4 of 6 Puck’s chase group contained Neff, Vas, Fouquenet, Zemanová and Marion Norbert Riberolle. After Brand had her own crash Alvarado latched on.

Brand and Alvarado took their spirited scrap into the penultimate lap. Things got a little too spirited in the chase, after Zemanová’s crash took out Riberolle. The Belgian shoved the Czech and was disqualified, but kept racing. Brand rid herself of compatriot Alvarado.

This shove got Riberolle disqualified.

On the bell lap Brand had a considerable gap. Alvarado’s silver seemed safe, but Pieterse, Fouquenet, Vas and Neff vied for the final podium spot. Pieterse tried to bolt, but Vas had her measure. A mistake from Vas put Pieterse on her fourth consecutive podium and gave the Dutch six podium sweeps in seven years. Brand flapped her wings over the finish line.

The Hulst Worlds continue Sunday with Junior men’s, U23 women’s and elite men’s races.

2026 UCI Cyclocross World Championships, Elite Women
Gold) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands) 49:16
Silver) Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (The Netherlands) +0:27
Bronze) Puck Pieterse (The Netherlands) +0:51
16) Sidney McGill (Canada) +4:00
26) Maghalie Rochette (Canada) +7:27