After strong winter, Amandine Fouquenet breaks through with win in Heusden-Zolder

Vas is back
After a few weeks of absence, Vas was eager to dive back into the cyclocross and had an excellent start. The Hungarian initially had to give way to the Spanish Lucía Gonzalez Blanco but quickly took over the lead, though mostly adopting a wait-and-see approach. The SD Worx-Protime rider took the first lap but the first serious selection was yet to come.

Schreiber and Fouquenet in deep concentration - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos

Just before entering the second lap, as they entered the famous Terlaemen race circuit, Fouquenet took over from Vas. The French champion—who despite an excellent cyclocross winter still lives in uncertainty about her future—decided to open the throttle for the first time. Van der Heijden sensed the danger and soon took over but was in turn overtaken by Vas again.

Tension before the victory
In the opening phase, the lead of the race went back and forth. Fouquenet, Vas, Van der Heijden, Van Alphen, and Schreiber were evenly matched. These five top riders started the third lap together—with a small gap over Fleur Moors and Marion Norbert Riberolle. What followed was a cat-and-mouse game among the leaders. At times the pace surged, but just as often, it slowed down again.

The stop-and-go riding played into the hands of pursuers Moors and Norbert Riberolle, as they got the chance to catch up in the penultimate lap. However, this was short-lived, because just before entering the final lap Fouquenet saw her moment to lay her cards on the table. The Frenchwoman made a gap of about twenty metres as she entered the start-finish straight.

Vive la Fouquenet! - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos