For the 9th round of the World Cup, the national champion, currently in training like her rivals in Spain, will return to the fast Benidorm circuit on Sunday.
The Benidorm circuit will not look much like that of the World Championships in Liévin on February 2. But as always, with regard to this last event, everything will depend on the nature of the terrain. For the moment, everyone who has gone to scout out the circuit in the north of France describes a 2,500 meter rolling and physical route, with 75 meters of positive altitude difference, apart from the passage of the inevitable footbridges, long stairs to cross by bike. on the shoulder.
In short, between now and then, the route may freeze, thaw, refreeze, become more or less muddy even if the weather forecasts, necessarily very uncertain in the long term, predict a long sunny period and a thermometer set at around ten degrees. Almost spring conditions. Almost like in Benidorm, this Sunday, where the World Cup stops for what will be the ninth round!
Respectively ranked eighth last year and fifteenth in 2023, Marie Schreiber, currently fourth in the general classification (and second hope behind the Englishwoman Zoe Bäckstedt), likes this rolling Spanish course. Remember that the national champion, winner of the Dutch round of Hulst where she produced a real demonstration (she had led from start to finish) made this general classification a goal in its own right.
Frankly sick and suffering in Besançon (18e), and not yet recovered a week later in the quagmire of Dendermonde (12e), Marie Schreiber, by her own admission, had “a difficult time at the start of the year”. But that’s ancient history now.
Fem Van Empel like last year
Last Sunday, after having fulfilled her obligations following her third national champion title, the Luxembourger from the SD Worx-Protime team headed without delay to Spain (in Denia) where she will stay with her team until to Wednesday. Among the elite girls present in Benidorm (among the women, we will find almost all the big names who will be at the Worlds, with two or three exceptions) some like Fem Van Empel and Lucinda Brand have been in Spain for around fifteen days already. This shows the importance of this internship in the sun in the perspective of the Worlds.
-After Benidorm, Marie Schreiber will continue, like her rivals, the rounds of Maasmechelen (Belgium) and Hoogerheide (Netherlands) scheduled for January 24 and 25, the final test gallops before the World Championships in Liévin.
This Sunday in Spain, we will have to be able to take a step back with the dry result of this round which still remains a little atypical. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see where the elite world champion stands. Fem Van Empel, who won in Benidorm in 2024 before biting very frankly into her second consecutive title last year in Tabor, appeared a little less sovereign in recent weeks, unlike Lucinda Brand, while Zoe Bäckstedt continued to lead the wagon of hopes. In this category, note the presence of Liv Wenzel, who finds very good sensations.
Wout van Aert sera là
Among the men, Wout van Aert, who had scored at the beginning of January by winning in quick succession at Gullegem (Superprestige), then the next day at Dendermonde, will not participate in the world championship in Liévin (unlike Mathieu Van der Poel, absent in Benidorm, but present in Hoogerheide and Liévin).
But the Belgian from Visma, who feels “in great shape”, will line up well this Sunday at this round in Benidorm then in Maasmechelen next Saturday. It will then resume its road trajectory. Not always very easy to find your way around!
Related News :