For Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, her comeback in cyclocross turned out to be a success. The team leader of Fenix-Deceuninck had been struggling with a knee injury and took no risks during her recovery. Tábor last week came too soon, but in Flamanville she was back in the race. Alvarado capped that comeback with an impressive podium finish. "I can be very happy with today," she said immediately after the race.
Alvarado didn’t start at the front and had to fight her way back in the race in France. It wasn’t easy. "I had some issues and it was a tough race, so today this third place was the best I could achieve," Alvarado concluded afterwards. For a long time, she was still contesting second place, far behind the solo winner Aniek van Alphen. "Halfway through, I already thought winning was impossible. I gave it my all, but I couldn’t go any faster than this."
"My knee felt good. Maybe I’ll feel something later, but it will all be fine," she laughed. "I started without expectations and tried to get the most out of it. That turned out to be third place, so I can be happy with my comeback."
"I was dying," Alvarado joked. "It wasn’t easy, especially on the straight sections. There I was somewhat at a disadvantage. On the technical sections, I could gain an advantage, but then there would be a power section where I lost out today."
Alvarado had praise for 'teammate' Aniek van Alphen, who won her first World Cup race. "She really deserves it. She’s riding well. This is the icing on the cake for her and will give her extra motivation."
