Chaos reigns in Zonhoven: Pieterse, Brand and Alvarado crash in descent

The Zonhoven World Cup is already a challenging cyclocross with its famous sand descents, but due to recent snowfall, the course was even more treacherous. This was evident in the opening phase: in the second sand pit, the three leading riders in the race – Puck Pieterse, Lucinda Brand, and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado – all went down.

The elite women were sent off into the field at 1:40 PM. Pieterse immediately showed focus and thus got off to an excellent start. The Dutch champion drove the pace, with World Cup leader Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado close behind.

These three top riders quickly broke away, but in the second sand descent, everything went wrong. Pieterse was the first to hit the ground, and Brand also couldn’t complete the sand pit without falling. Alvarado seemed to escape the chaos for a moment but couldn’t avoid the falling Brand and also crashed onto the sandy ground.

🚨 PILE-UP

This course is so tough as Pieterse, Brand and Alvarado all come down on this first lap! They're back on their bikes and racing at the front. #CXWorldCup pic.twitter.com/SwgTf2D9iS

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 4, 2026

The fallen racers were able to quickly resume, but Brand and Alvarado took a little longer to find their rhythm again. Pieterse, on the other hand, quickly regained a strong pace and started the second lap with a solid lead (about fifteen seconds).