Lucinda Model (Netherlands) secured her seventh consecutive medal on the UCI Cyclocross World Champions, this time bested solely by one, her Dutch compatriot, Fem van Empel. Van Empel soloed to her second consecutive rainbow jersey within the elite ladies’s race, ending 1:20 forward of Model.
“Profitable is at all times one of the best factor, however this one was additionally very good. I’m one of the best of the remainder,” Model, who gained the world title in 2021, stated in a post-race interview.
“Fem is solely head and shoulders above the remainder in the intervening time. She is somebody with lots of expertise. I hope that she will proceed this development in order that she will obtain many different nice outcomes. For me, it is very important keep on monitor for so long as doable.”
Van Empel pulled away from her rivals within the opening laps of the race and finally distanced her principal rivals on the day, Model and Puck Pieterse (additionally from the Netherlands), for an all-Dutch podium.
Pieterse was one of many race favourites however light on the penultimate lap and appeared upset to be handed by Model.
Head of the World Championships, Van Empel had dominated the season with a whopping 17 victories, together with 5 rounds of the World Cup. Model additionally had a robust season, profitable two rounds of the World Cup in Flamanville and Dublin.
She crashed whereas main the World Cup spherical in Zonhoven, the place she sustained a damaged nostril, however she was again to racing the next weekend on the Dutch Championships and gained the elite ladies’s title.
Model was completely happy to return to Tabor wholesome and able to compete for the world title. The final time she was in Tabor, she sustained a fracture in a metacarpal bone on her proper hand following a crash whereas warming up for the subsequent spherical of the World Cup in 2022.
“Once I broke my hand right here in Tábor, it was all nugatory. Plenty of ups and downs, it wasn’t at all times nice at house. However I am glad that someplace inside, I used to be capable of finding the boldness and proceed to consider in it,” she stated in an interview with Wielerflits.
Model’s silver medal on the Tabor Worlds provides to her assortment of now seven medals within the World Championships; gold in 2021, three silver medals in 2019, 2022 and 2024, and three bronze in 2018, 2020 and 2023.
“We don’t know the way she retains pulling it off, however Lucinda Model is taking house the silver medal,” her group, Baloise Trek Lions, wrote in a submit on social media following the race.
