Van Empel suffered like never before during brilliant European Championship battle, but: "Whether it was a real cyclo-cross…"

Fem van Empel is usually a composed rider, but when she saw the threat from Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado in the finale of the European Cyclo-Cross Championships in Pontevedra, the world champion showed she could hold her ground, even using her elbows. Van Empel pulled a brilliant inside move to overtake Lucinda Brand, seizing her last chance to claim her third consecutive European title.

"I’m actually very happy with this one. It was a very tough race and maybe the best battle of this season," Van Empel beamed in the flash interview afterward. "There was a jersey on the line in this race, and I love that. I kept fighting the whole race, and it means a lot to win it." With the Koppenberg on Friday and the European Championship on Sunday, Van Empel suddenly secured two wins — something she had only managed once earlier this season. That’s called peaking at the right time. Yet, we won’t see her outstanding form in action in cyclo-cross races for a while. "I’m going to rest and train now, so I think I’ll be back in two weeks."

Good news for her competitors, as Van Empel is improving each week. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider had made this weekend her target but knows she can now take it easy before her next goal. "The World Championships are, of course, the big goal, but let’s see how everything goes month by month." She will have plenty of time for her main goal: the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Liévin, France, which doesn’t start until the end of January next year.

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Fem van Empel in her European Championship jersey

Van Empel completes hat trick: "I can check that off"

Speaking to Dutch broadcast NOS, the European champion said the race was one of the toughest efforts of her career."It was close to the hardest. I knew I couldn’t make a difference on the long straight stretches at the start. There was still a long way to go until the end. Casasola came back, and naturally, the three of us couldn’t let her overtake us and take the win, so we had to keep the pace high."

"I had to give it everything to get past. Just before the end, I had a duel with Lucinda, which was close. I tried to stay as close as possible to Ceylin’s wheel, and then went all out to the finish line." The sprint was a nail-biting end to a fantastic race. "I was getting closer, but it stayed about the same, and I couldn’t quite get past. Then I thought: I have to go now. I overtook her, and I knew she didn’t have enough left to respond to that."

There was criticism beforehand about the course, which was said to be too easy and more like a gravel race. "These are the races where you create the most suspense, but whether it was a real cyclo-cross is another question," Van Empel remarked afterward. "But it doesn’t have to be tough every week." On this super-fast course, the Dutchwoman claimed her third European Championship title in a row — a true hat trick. "I can check that off," Van Empel concluded.

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