Reigning ladies’s global cyclocross champion Fem van Empel says that she won’t scale back her cyclocross calendar to spice up her highway ambitions.
The 22-year-old took a tenth cyclocross win of the season on the Global Cup spherical in Benidorm on Sunday, beating Lucinda Emblem to victory after a aggravating and exciting race at the Costa Blanca.
After the UCI Cyclocross Global Championships in Liévin in two weeks, the Dutch rider will flip her consideration to the street. She’ll get started her marketing campaign on the ladies’s Milan-San Remo Donne on March 22, the place she’ll be running for Marianne Vos.
“I will ride Milan-San Remo in a serving role,” Van Empel instructed Sporza. “Depending on my form, we will see where I will be at the start after that.
“The spring Classics swimsuit my profile easiest. However I ponder if it is reasonable to win there within the brief time period. Then the whole lot would actually have to move smartly.”
With Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel both riding reduced cyclocross campaigns this season to suit their road ambitions, questions have been asked if Van Empel – only on her third season as part of the elites – will do likewise in the future.
“That’s not but the case,” she insisted. “I can proceed to ‘pass, as I did this season, in order that I will educate for the street in between. I can by no means reduce on my cyclocross calendar, as a result of I believe ‘pass is some distance too stunning.”
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Like Van Aert and Van der Poel, Van Empel is another prodigy of the sport, with two world titles under her belt already and another in her sights. Expectations are high, but then again, they always have been.
“I needed to take care of drive and expectancies from out of doors at a tender age,” she said. “I did not understand how to take care of that. Now I am looking to grasp that higher and higher. However that’s not at all times simple.”
Van Empel isn’t infallible, though. Last season, she dominated women’s cyclocross with 19 wins from 21 starts. This season, she has been beaten seven times in 17 starts, and was once again pushed in Benidorm by the experienced former world champion Brand.
A large group of 11 riders came into the final lap together with Brand driving the pace on the fast course. However, Van Empel came out from behind her rival on the barriers section as both dismounted and ran.
As the pair remounted together, Van Empel had the power to take the lead and hold off her rival on the dash for the line, taking her third consecutive win in Benidorm.
“The way in which I win nowadays may be particular and likewise presentations my battle. I’m very glad with my season and definitely with this victory. Once a year it is thrilling right here, it is a fantastic race,” she mentioned.
“Lucinda saved the door closed smartly. She did not depart any house, so the planks have been in truth some of the ultimate probabilities to discover a hole. It was once simply complete throttle on that plank after which a dash for the asphalt.”
Van Empel added that she was always in control during the race, even though the majority of the six-lap event saw a large group of favourites at the front.
“In the beginning, I used to be centered, and I used to be in first or 2d place the entire race. I used to be in keep watch over,” she said.
Van Empel has structured her cyclocross season differently this campaign by incorporating road training camps. She has also taken World Cup wins at Antwerp, Gavere, and Besančon, alongside the UEC European Championships, Koppenbergcross, and Exact Cross races in Beringen and Kortrijk.
“I will be very glad with my wintry weather in the interim,” she said. “I gained the entire crosses I had set my attractions on. For the remaining, I handiest did not end at the podium as soon as [in Namur – Ed.]. I had a large number of dangerous good fortune then.
“If you leave that ‘cross out of the equation, I’m riding a very good season so far. I don’t worry anymore when I’m at the start of a cross. I try to rely on my own strength, that gives me confidence.”
