That's eight for eight for Fem van Empel. Even on Saturday in Kortrijk, there was little competition for the 21-year-old Jumbo-Visma world champion. After a two-week break, her competitors might have harbored some hope of gaining an advantage, but Van Empel's legs decided otherwise. IDLProCycling.com caught up with her after the race.
That Van Empel would eventually win with a huge gap over Lucinda Brand, that was not at all apparent in the opening phase of the race. After a tumble, she even had to chase Brand for a bit. "I was actually afraid that I would crash into that pole," she laughs afterwards. "I don't even know exactly what happened, I probably got into the wrong track, losing control. When I saw that pole… Luckily, I missed it."
In his analysis for this website, coach Jan Boven attributes it to a lack of sharpness. "At the beginning, she was a bit cautious, which I think also made her less sharp and caused that mistake. After that, she switched gears and it went well," says the Jumbo-Visma coach - with a sense of understatement. Van Empel adds, "I wasn't nervous, but of course, I had been out of racing for two weeks. That cyclo-cross feeling wasn't entirely there, but I quickly noticed that I had good legs. The same legs as two weeks ago, yes."
All's well that ends well. Therefore, she could already laugh about it in the flash interview. "In terms of the course, this was perhaps the most difficult victory, it was quite hard to get away. There were a lot of straight sections and the wind played a part too, especially towards the finish. It's always a bit of an advantage in those conditions to ride with several women. I tried not to worry too much after the fall and kept focused. There really aren't any consequences from the fall, maybe it'll feel a bit stiff on Sunday. However, with adrenaline in your body, you can do a lot."
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Van Empel crashed in opening phase
That was bad news for the rest. Because after her European Championship victory, Van Empel took a break. She seemed a bit vulnerable after that race. "Physically, it's okay to race a lot, but mentally it's tough. People expect me to win everything. They expect a lot from me, and that makes it hard to stay focused. I have to deal with that, but it's also nice that I can now take a mental break," she said at the time.
She revisits that topic now. She had seen the media coverage about her candid statements at the European Championship in Pontchateau. "There was a bit of mental strain, but it all came out a bit bigger than it actually was," Van Empel smiles, laughing and glowing, with a fresh tint on her cheeks. "I sought out the good weather and you recover a lot mentally when you can train in that."
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The world champion's bike
A downside of two weeks of training in Spain is that it doesn't always work out well for cyclo-cross. "You don't ride faster from endurance training; it actually makes you slower. But I know those trainings are good for something. If not in the short term, then for the long term. I have to keep that in mind, especially towards the upcoming spring season that I'm going to do," she acknowledges. Her coach Boven agrees: "I was confident that she would be good again. Those trainings really did make her better. We just had a busy week with the women's team, with a team day and a lot of endurance training. That alertness can be missing for a bit after such a period, but during the cyclo-cross, I very quickly saw good accelerations in the corners."
IDLProCycling.com's final question to both: Can Van Empel get even better than she is showing now? "It's hard to say," she says herself. "I can't let anything stop me anymore, anyway. I need to stay healthy, that's the main thing. I don't need to change much, mainly I need to find a combination of feeling good and being rested at the start." Boven adds, "I don't think Fem can get a lot better, but she can still grow. 'A lot' is a big statement, and Pieterse, Brand and Vas might also get a bit closer. You might not always see that improvement in times or results. But Fem can still improve a bit."