Alvarado Grinds Out Sandy, Muddy Win at Superprestige Gieten – Report, Results

The Memorial Radomir Simunek in the Dutch town of Gieten, named after the Czech 1991 world champion Radomir Simunek Sr., kicked off a new Superprestige cyclocross season. Forest tracks, muddy run-ups and lots of sand are what awaited the riders today.

One interesting appearance in today’s Women’s race was Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), the current road world champion. American Kaitie Keough (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) also made the start after her Euro debut at Polderscross on Saturday.

Inge van der Heijden (CCC-Liv), the U23 world champion, had the head start. Ellen van Loy (Telenet-Baloise Lions) had a reputation to keep up and tried to take over.

While van der Heijden and Van Loy were battling each other for the lead, Annemarie Worst (Steylaerts-777 ) and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Corendon-Circus) sharpened their knives.

Halfway through the first lap, the Elite and U23 European champions in Worst and Alvarado took off. By the end of the first lap, they already had a 7 seconds advantage on the first chasing group.

It soon became clear that Alvarado was the strongest woman in the race. After yo-yo-ing for half a lap, Worst broke, probably still recovering from yesterday’s effort that got her a win in Kruibeke. By the end of lap 2, she was joined by 6 others, but Alvarado’s lead amounted to 33 seconds already.

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado powers away from the field. 2019 Superprestige Gieten. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

In the third lap, Alvarado got stopped by a lapped rider who crashed in a sandy corner, but it didn’t prevent her from extending her lead with another 10 seconds. It was Yara Kastelijn (Steylaerts-777) and World Champion Sanne Cant (IKO-Crelan ) fighting their way towards the podium with a 43 seconds arrear.

While van Loy went down in the deep mud, Kastelijn started putting Cant under pressure and with 2 laps to go, she dropped the world champion.

While Alvarado entered the last lap, van Vleuten dropped out of the race. It was a fun outing after a tough but very successful road season.

Cant made her way back to Kastelijn and soon the roles turned. She left Kastelijn behind, but the victory was lost a long time ago already.

The order on the podium was determined. Alvarado took her second win of the season. Cant finished second with a 55 seconds arrears. Kastelijn completed the podium.

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado celebrates her win. 2019 Superprestige Gieten. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

“When I accelerated, I immediately had a little gap. It was still far, but I tried to find a good rhythm and I was able to keep that till the end. I even had a little something left for the last lap, but that turned out not to be necessary,” Alvarado said. (translated, source: Sporza)

Elite Women’s podium: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Sanne Cant and Yara Kastelijn. 2019 Superprestige Gieten. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

After a strong race, Italian champion Eva Lechner (Creafin – Fristads) took 4th with a little advantage on Van Loy, who took 5th.

Keough went on to finish 17th.

Full results are below. Stay tuned for a Men’s race report.

Elite Women Results: 2019 Superprestige Gieten