Aniek van Alphen surprisingly leads World Cup thanks to strategic choices

After four rounds, or one third of the Cyclo-cross World Cup, Aniek van Alphen surprisingly leads the most prestigious ranking in cyclo-cross. She partly owes this to some strategic program choices.

"The World Cup gradually became a goal for the season," Van Alphen explains to our camera. "The Superprestige was actually the classification I wanted to focus on this season. But when I took the lead after Flamanville, we quickly switched gears with the team to also race in Terralba."

"If I hadn’t been the leader, I would have simply stayed in Spain last week. But since that was the case, we decided that I would ride the entire World Cup to see how far I can go. In the end, that worked out well."

Brand Problem
Van Alphen is also aware that it won’t be easy to ultimately secure the overall victory. Lucinda Brand, who didn’t start in Flamanville, is now closing in to just one single point behind Van Alphen after another win – her third already in this classification this season – in Namur.

Aniek van Alphen - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos

The problem for Van Alphen is that Brand will now also compete in all the remaining rounds in this classification. "It’s going to be tough to hold on. But so far, it’s really fun that I’ve managed to do this. Normally, I don’t like last-minute changes to my program and prefer to stick to the plan, but we’ve decided this now, and I trust the team knows what’s best for me."

In Flamanville, it was double celebration for Van Alphen, as the Dutch rider also won her first ever World Cup race as a pro there. "It’s really nice that I was able to win there for myself, but also for the people around me. Cyclo-cross seems like an individual sport, but it impacts a lot of people around you – like your coach, your family, and pretty much everyone. So it’s great to give something back to them."

Enjoyment
Van Alphen needed that as well, after not reaching her best form in recent years. While the Seven Racing rider has only finished outside the top 5 once this season, a year ago it wasn’t so obvious to be so high up in the results.

"This summer, I worked very hard to become a bit more like myself again. And to find the joy on the bike again. When things go well, it’s a bit more fun and everything feels easier. That’s something I’ve realized now. It’s physical, but also mental. It’s very important that everything is right on all fronts," concludes the cross rider.