CYCLO CROSS

Four FENIX-Deceuninck riders lined up at Telenet Superpestige Gullegem and all delivered top and strong performances. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado earned a hard-fought third place in a race that saw her leading the first four laps. Her teammates Yara Kastelijn, Puck Langenbarg and Marthe Truyen finished 8^th, 10^th at 11^th respectively.

With these results, Alvarado slipped by one point to second place in the Superprestige standings. The series’ winner will be decided in the eight and final race in Middelkerke, which will take place on February 8.

A nearly perfect race in the sands dunes of Koksijde led Puck Pieterse to a spectacular solo victory, her first of the season. She dominated the X20 Trophy course from the start, steadily incrementing her lead after the first lap and a half.

The 22-year-old FENIX-Deceuninck rider crossed the finish line 20 seconds ahead of Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lion) and almost 40 ahead of Fem Van Empel (Visma | Lease a Bike).

“I felt great on the bike today. My form has been improving over the past races, and I’m incredibly happy to win again! I think I’m slowly getting ready for the championships,” said Pieterse.

Her teammate Marthe Truyen finished in 8th place, after only her 6th race of the season.

X2O Trofee Baal GP Sven Nys, the first CX race of 2025, saw Puck Pieterse cross the finish line third. She had a perfect start and led the race before a crash set her back. 

“This was the first cross (race) where I felt like a cyclocross rider again. I could compete for the win, and I think it was one of the most exciting races so far. I got sick after Gavere, so I didn’t know how it would go today. But apparently lying in bed all day did my form good,” said Pieterse. 

Baal also marked the FENIX-Deceuninck debut of Puck Langenbarg, who signed a four-year contract with the team. At 18 years old, the reigning European junior road champion will continue developing her skills while combining cyclocross and road racing. 

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado is on fire! Braving the rain and the cold, the FENIX-Deceuninck rider won in the sands of Superprestige Zilvermeercross in Mol, Belgium, with 34 seconds over Dutch national champion Lucinda Brand. This was her ninth victory of the season, and the second of the week after the World Cup in Zonhoven. 

“I am very happy,” Alvarado said, who has won four our of five races of the Telenet Superprestige series, which she leads with 72 points. “I heard that Brand had fallen, but she wasn’t running that far at that point, so I thought for sure she would still be able to catch up. She didn’t, so that was the moment for me to open the throttle.” 

Her teammates Yara Kastelijn and Marthe Truyen, who started their short CX season over the weekend, finished 9th and 14th respectively. Overall, strong results for the team. 

The next Superprestige race ius scheduled on December 30th in Diegem, Belgium. 

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado won her second World Cup race of the season in a spectacular comeback in Zonhoven, Belgium. A hard-fought end with Zoe Bäckstedt and Lucinda Brand, who she caught up with in the second half of the race. 

The Dutch FENIX-Deceuninck rider, who was sick the day before during a race in Hulst, was surprised with her eighth victory of the season. “I was feeling very cold during the first two laps today, then I picked up the pace and naturally warmed up,” Alvarado said in an interview. “Today is not yesterday, when I vomited out everything in me twenty minutes before the race in Hulst. I didn’t expect to win today, so that’s an even better victory.” 

Her teammates Puck Pieterse and Marthe Truyen finished fifth and 32nd, respectively. 

Puck Pieterse earned a hard-fought third place at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst. “In the first half of the race I kept coming back, but then I made another stupid mistake, after which I had to chase again. That cost me a bit too much energy,” said the 22-year-old Dutch rider in an interview. 

Pieterse, who crossed the finish line behind Marie Schreiber and Lucinda Brand, considered Hulst a “good start” of her season while recognizing that “there are still some things to work out.” This World Cup was the second race of her intense and short season, which will end with the Cyclocross World Championships in Liévin, France, on February 1st. 

With a strong performance and a hard-fought race, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado crossed the finish line second at the European Cyclocross Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. A nail-biting final sprint ultimately won by two-time world champion Fem van Empel.

“Played my cards, result was bittersweet. Sometimes the gamble doesn’t pay off, but the grind was worth it,” wrote the 26-year-old Dutch rider in an Instagram post. While it wasn’t the outcome she expected, Alvarado said she was happy with the work done.

Alvarado went full-throttle through out the 3,350-meters long circuit. “I tried to make it difficult for everyone. I think that I really succeeded towards the end, but in the end, it is all about whether you have a sprint or not. And there was someone with a better sprint,” she said in a post-race interview.

What a spectacular second week of the cyclo-cross season for Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. After an opening podium at Exact Cross Beringen, the FENIX-Deceuninck rider won both Kermiscross Ardooie and Superprestige Ruddervoorde.

“A less season opener with a few mechanicals but ending the first week with a hard-fought victory made up for it. Grateful for a good week of racing,” Alvarado wrote on an Instagram post, where she acknowledged that it felt great “to have such a good start after some hectic and uncertain months.”

At Kermiscross Ardooie, the Dutch rider secured a solo victory after launching a decisive attack on the third lap. In an impressive show of strength and speed, she crossed the finish line 28 seconds ahead Marion Norbert Riberolle (Crelan-Corendon) and 48 seconds in front of Alicia Franck (De Ceuster-Bowpunt).

Three days later, Alvardo won the first round of the Telenet Superprestige series. What a race! She dominated the course along Fem van Empel (Team Visma-Lease a Bike, Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) and Sara Casasola (Crelan-Corendon). Not even a fall on the second to last lap deterred her focus. She was explosive uphill and sped through the sand sections, which allowed her to dash for the finish line ahead of Van Empel and Brand.

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado celebrated the start of her 2024-2025 Cyclo-cross season with a strong second place at the opening round of the Exact Cross series in Beringen. This was also her debut with the FENIX-Deceuninck jersey, after racing under Alpecin-Deceuninck for the past five years.

Alvarado crossed the finish line 42 seconds after world champion Fem van Empel and 34 seconds ahead of Lucinda Brand. The FENIX-Deceuninck rider started the race with a lead but a crashed on the second lap forced her to change her bike. However, she quickly got back and managed to regain positions throughout the muddy course.