Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado recorded her third cross victory in a row in the Superprestige. In an exciting battle, she stayed just ahead of Lucinda Brand and was able to cross the line in Merksplas with a cheer. Afterwards, Alvarado could hardly believe that she had won again and she also described how difficult it was to find a decisive moment. Brand was especially a bit pissed…
Afterwards Alvarado stood by flash interview she still had to pant hard, she had finally gone so deep. It was clear: making a difference on a lightning fast lap turned out to be much more difficult than expected. ‘I had to go deep, but the gap I got meant that I had to seize my moment. “I knew that on such a fast lap it would be difficult to close a gap, unless you have super legs,” she said.
That moment came in round five of six. Alvarado rode into the hilly forest ahead of Brand. However, the Dutch champion saw the Italian Sara Casasola come in brutally and somewhat overconfidently, causing them both to get off their bikes on a hill. Brand had already gained a gap a lap earlier in the same way, but now it turned out to be decisive. ‘Without that action from Casasola, that gap would not have fallen, then it would have been a game until the end. Now I had to come back, I’m disappointed about that’, grumbles Brand afterwards.
According to Brand, a conversation with the Crelan-Corendon rider will still take place. ‘Maybe it’s youth, but there has been an action before that made me think: ouff… That’s also a bit cross, but often she doesn’t even benefit from it. Then it is completely annoying, so if I get the chance, I will definitely mention it again.’
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Alvarado and Brand are evenly matched
Due to the clash between Brand and Casasola, Alvarado had just a few seconds left at the finish. That provided relief. ‘We have already seen in Lokeren that Lucinda and I are evenly matched. I took that moment, but the last lap was really tough,” she described the last lap, in which she was almost overtaken on the sandbank. The finish was then just fast enough for the lady who has been so successful this year.
Brand agrees that the sandbox was ‘crucial’. She didn’t always get through it well herself, but she did in the final round. As a result, she almost closed the gap to Alvarado. The leader said she panicked for a moment. ‘I was tired and still thinking that I had to get through that sand passage one more time to win. But then something went wrong halfway through and I lost focus. I ran as fast as I could, but that wasn’t fast anymore.’
“Lucinda was almost on my wheel, but I just kept riding until the finish, because the sprint was too short to really sprint,” Alvarado continues. Brand had to deal with the frustration and tries to take the positive points with him. ‘The shape could be better, but I can’t complain either. If you feel that there is room for improvement somewhere and you are fighting for victory, then you should not make too much of a fuss about it.’
Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | e-mail: [email protected])
