Daphny van den Brand on the podium at Namen © Bart Hazen
Daphny van den Brand (ZZPR.nl), one of the top favorites in the women’s World Championship race in St. Wendel, Germany, will miss the race due to severe bronchitis. Van den Brand won the European Cyclocross Championship this year, and she finished just behind Marianne Vos in the Dutch National Championships to claim the silver medal.
The Dutch rider also was forced to skip the final UCI Cyclocross World Cup race in Hoogerheide, and saw her overall series standings slip to sixth place as a result. Van den Brand reported on her blog that she hopes to make her return to the sport on February 5th for the penultimate GvA race in Lille, Belgium. Although she’s told Cyclocross Magazine that she may conclude her career after the 2011/2012 season, we hope to see the 11-time Dutch cyclocross champion and 2003 world champ in the mix for years to come
