Inge van der Heijden leads Dutch sweep ahead of Lucinda Brand and Aniek van Alphen at elite women’s race

Inge van der Heijden led from begin to end to say the elite ladies’s title on the UEC European Cyclocross Championships, main a Dutch sweep in Middelkerke, Belgium, on Saturday.

Referred to as a sand specialist, the 24-year-old Van der Heijden took the entrance instantly on the riders tackled the primary sand part and shortly established a niche that she was capable of maintain to win the primary elite ladies’s title in her profession.

Behind her, crew ways got here into play as a three-rider chase group fashioned with compatriots Lucinda Model, Aniek van Alphen and Sara Casasola (Italy). After the Dutch crew’s ways have been questioned on the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships, neither Model nor Van Alphen appeared keen to go all in to chase down their teammate.

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Model dropped Van Alphen on the ultimate lap to safe second place, her third profession silver medal, ending 41 seconds behind her compatriot. Van Alphen adopted 15 seconds later to say third.

Casasola crashed on the seashore within the penultimate lap, dropping her out of the chase group and off the rostrum. She finally completed fourth for the second consecutive yr.

Defending champion Fem van Empel was absent on account of sickness and unable to go for a fourth consecutive title.

Extra to come back….

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