Alvarado struggled with illness Saturday and thanks Brand after victory: "Both of us will always keep going"

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado triumphed on Sunday in Zonhoven in no uncertain fashion. At first, it didn't look like it, but in the end, she was victorious. It became a nice three-way battle with Zoe Bäckstedt and Lucinda Brand in the sand, but the Alpecin-Fenix lady had timed it perfectly. That led to a delighted winner afterward.

She felt pretty cold afterward, and with shaking hands, she could tell her story to the camera during the flash interview. She mentioned in it that she had been quite ill on Saturday and was fit just in time. "I was feeling very cold during the first two laps today, then I picked up the pace and naturally warmed up. Today is not yesterday, I vomited out everything in me twenty minutes before the race in Hulst," she indicated.

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Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado here in archive image

Alvarado thought Bäckstedt was already gone

"So I wasn't expecting much yesterday; I knew it wouldn't amount to anything. Today, I already felt much better. It was a new day. I hoped it was a one-off yesterday and I slept well. I was also able to eat again and hoped today would be better already. It took a while to get into it, but it went well."

Young Bäckstedt attacked and raced away from the rest in the first part of the race, and Alvarado thought no one would see her again. "No, not in the first part. She was far away fast. I was sitting in the wheel of Lucinda (Brand, ed.) at one point, and then we got close again. Both of us are riders who will keep going to the end anyway, so that's when I knew we could do it again," said the lady who snuck away from Brand and overtook Bäckstedt.

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