First World Cup victory for Luxembourger in Hulst
By Kevin Kempf
Marie Schreiber (SD Worx – Protime) celebrates the biggest victory of her career. | Cor Vos
21.12.2024 | (rsn) – Fast starter Marie Schreiber (SD Worx – Protime) won the Cross World Cup in Hulst with a start-to-finish victory. Lucinda Brand (Baloise – Trek Lions) extended her overall lead in second place. Puck Pieterse (Fenix – Deceuninck) completed the podium. Annemarie Worst (Reds) came fourth ahead of Inge van der Heijden (Corendon – Crelan).
After second place in Flamanville in December 2023 and third place in Antwerp four weeks ago, the 21-year-old achieved her first World Cup success in the Dutch province of Zeeland. “I don't have a word for it, I really can't believe it. I had a good start and was in the lead – and suddenly I was way ahead!” said the overjoyed winner.
Apparently effortlessly, she had separated herself from the competition after just a few meters. “I expected them all to come back. But with two laps to go I thought 'Shit! I can really win here'. That made me nervous and I tried not to make any mistakes,” said the leader in the U23 World Cup rankings after her fourth win of the season.
She has collected twelve victories in her career, the one in Hulst being her first in a competitive cross. “I had great legs, but I made a few mistakes in the last lap because I realized I was winning,” said Schreiber, who successfully completed “a pretty difficult week.” “My dog died Wednesday. I haven't really been able to concentrate on things the last few days, I've only been in the tunnel when I was on my bike.”
As with her debut in Namur, Pieterse also finished her second outing of the season in third place. “I was feeling a little better, but in the first half of the race I always made a stupid mistake when I was in a good position – and then I had to chase again. “That cost me too much energy,” said the Dutchwoman, summing up her competition. So she never came close to the winner. “Everyone knows she can start quickly. “It’s really cool to see that she can now do that in the second half of the race,” she said happily for Schreiber.
Elisabeth Brandau (EBE Racing) started from the fourth row and had to give up her position as the best German directly to the young Kaija Budde (Peter Pane -Nagel), who started three rows behind. At the end of the second lap, the 39-year-old struck back when she overtook her compatriot again in 40th place. The German champion climbed to 32nd place, but lost a noticeable amount of time and a few positions in the last two laps and finished 41st.
After four World Cups, Brand leads by 25 points over Schreiber. Fem van Empel (Visma – Lease a Bike), who had to miss the start due to a fall injury, slipped to third place. The fifth of eleven events will take place tomorrow in Zonhoven.
This is how the World Cup went in Hulst:
Schreiber once again came out of the blocks best and immediately pulled away on the extremely technical course. At the first finish, Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon – Sram) was eleven seconds ahead. Seven seconds behind were Brand, Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx – Protime) and Pieterse, who plowed through the field after a mediocre start. Her teammate Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado had problems at the start and only followed in the next group.
Eight pursuers then came together to pursue the Luxembourg women. They got in each other's way on the many technical sections, which meant Schreiber continued to pull away. Behind her, her teammate Vas fell behind due to technical problems. The leader, on the other hand, started the third of six laps 28 seconds ahead of Brand, Pieterse, van der Heijden and Bäckstedt and Worst. Alvarado had recently lost touch again.
While Brand got serious and pulled away, Amandine Fouquenet (Arkea – B&B Hotels) fell on the steepest descent. The Frenchwoman remained lying down, which prompted Schreiber to run the passage. Brand, on the other hand, mastered it on the bike and gained eight seconds. In the end, she started the second half of the race 23 seconds behind Schreiber. The Dutchwoman was joined again by her compatriots van der Heijden and Pieterse.
Worst then turned the Dutch trio into a quartet. Although Fouquenet was still at the bottom of the descent, all the women were now heading down. Schreiber went into the semi-finals with a 19 second lead over Brand, who was once again a few seconds ahead of the others. Behind her, Pieterse and Worst managed to catch up with Brand, who had also lost ground to the front. But this only lasted for a short time, because the front runner in the World Cup left her two compatriots standing again a short time later. Meanwhile, slow-motion shots of Alvarado were shown holding her groin with her face contorted in pain.
The bell was rung for Schreiber 16 seconds before Brand and 24 seconds before Pieterse. The Luxembourger now made a few small technical errors. But she wasn't alone – Brand and her pursuers didn't get through the course without any problems either, which meant that there was never any real tension. Schreiber celebrated her first victory in a cross country event. Pieterse got closer to Brand in the final, but she could no longer reach the woman in the white jersey's rear wheel.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Related News :