Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado throwing haymakers was the highlight of Saturday’s fifth round of the 2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in sandy Antwerp, the second of three consecutive Belgian rounds before Christmas. Brand earned the victory and took over the series lead from third place Aniek van Alphen. Rafaelle Carrier was top Canadian at 25th.

Earlier in the day in the Junior women’s race, Canadian Alexa Haviland placed third, while Elly Moore came sixth, Clare Hauber eighth and Claire MacKinnon ninth out of 14 participants.

Preliminaries

In Namur, Brand’s third win in the first four World Cup rounds put her one point behind Flamanville victor van Alphen at the top of the overall table. Leonie Bentveld quietly moved into third place. Last season, Fem van Empel, who hasn’t raced in seven weeks weeks and announced on Friday that she is putting her pro career on hold, triumphed in Antwerp.

The Canadian contingent was Sidney McGill, national champion Maghalie Rochette, Kajka Verkerk, Rafaelle Carrier, Nico Knoll and Dorothee Perron.

The enormous field got the green light, Amandine Fouquenet taking the hole shot on Lap 1. Inge van der Heijden then stretched out the mob. Van Alphen and van der Heijden put some real estate between themselves and the pack. Brand, Fouquenet and Bentveld were the closest chasers. Van Alphen completed the first 3.37-km lap in 9:00, van der Heijden and Brand 10 seconds in arrears. Sidney McGill was 21st and Carrier 26th.

Plenty of sand running on Saturday.

Van Alphen came to heel at the start of Lap 2 of 6. Puck Pieterse and Alvarado joined the leading group before Puck grabbed the reins and pushed hard. Alvarado was four seconds behind at the line. McGill raced in 21st, Carrier in 23rd and Rochette in 38th.

Van Alphen returns to the fold at the beginning of Lap 2.

Pieterse led the charge into Lap 3, Brand her closest pursuer and Alvarado in Position 3. Van Alphen’s World Tour lead was officially in jeopardy. Alvarado, clad in burnt orange, squeezed to the front. At the midpoint of the race, Alvarado, Brand and Pieterse had a five-second gap on van Alphen. McGill sat in 24th, Carrier in 26th and Rochette in 40th.

Pieterse pulls the sand train on Lap 3.

After van Alphen swung back on board early in Lap 4, Brand accelerated away from the business end of the race. Only Alvarado could hang. Puck and van Alphen raced just behind. Carrier was now top Canadian in 24th.

Alvarado runs, Brand rides the sand.

The dynamic duo headed into the penultimate lap 11 seconds clear. Six riders were still in with a shout for the podium. The two groups merged but Alvarado wanted no more company. A decanting turned the octet into a Dutch quintet: Brand, Alvarado, van Anrooij, Pieterse and van Alphen. Brand and Alvarado once more lit out on their own and Brand tried to dislodge Alvarado. Carrier was 26th.

Alvarado wouldn’t relent early in the bell lap despite Brand’s attempts to dump her, but a small, steep hill proved her undoing. Van Alphen wanted to salvage something with a podium. A mistake in the sand allowed Alvarado back into the picture but it would be Brand prevailing once more.

The next round is tomorrow in Koksijde. More sand!

2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Round 5, Antwerp
1) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands/Baloise-Glowi Lions) 53:48
2) Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (The Netherland/Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:02
3) Aniek van Alphen (The Netherlands/Seven) +0:16
25) Rafaelle Carrier (Canada) +3:35
30) Sidney McGill (Canada) +4:00
40) Maghalie Rochette (Canada) +4:51
66) Nico Knoll (Canada)
67) Katja Verkerk (Canada)
68) Dorothee Perron (Canada)