Aniek van Alphen not really happy with Vas's racing behavior: "I didn't think that was quite fair"

Aniek van Alphen may have started as the big favorite at the Superprestige cross in Heusden-Zolder due to the absence of several top riders, but she had to acknowledge the superiority of the Frenchwoman Amandine Fouquenet. Afterwards, however, the focus was mainly on the at times very fierce battle with Blanka Vas for the other podium places.

Especially in the final lap, things got very intense between Van Alphen and Vas. At one point, they even went shoulder to shoulder through a sharp corner. "We were really riding a bit against each other," Van Alphen said afterwards on Telenet Play Sports.

"It’s a super-fast course and everyone can ride hard. It comes down to those final small margins. That corner after the second time through the feed zone, I didn’t think it was completely fair," Van Alphen referred to the moment mentioned earlier. "One of the three of us (Inge van der Heijden also decided to join the fight, ed.) was going to be the victim there. This time it was Inge. That’s not nice in this way."

By that time, Fouquenet had already broken away. "At the moment Fouquenet rode off, I was in a small gap. Inge wanted to keep going, but when she saw I was on her wheel, she also stopped pedaling. Blanka looked at us and asked: why aren’t you riding? But of course we were both racing for the overall classification."

"I completely understand Inge not wanting to lead when I’m on her wheel. It turns into more of a tactical game with the classification in mind," said Van Alphen, who is now the co-leader in the consistency classification. "That’s something to defend. Inge is super strong and there are courses coming up that suit her. This will get exciting."