Lucinda Brand wins Superprestige Overijse 2026 with commanding mid-race solo

Lucinda Brand won the opening round of the 2026-27 Superprestige in Overijse with a commanding solo ride, breaking clear before halfway and steadily extending her advantage over Aniek van Alphen and Inge van der Heijden.

The world champion crossed the line in 48:19, 17 seconds ahead of Van Alphen and 36 seconds clear of European champion Van der Heijden. Amandine Fouquenet was fourth at 1:04, while Denise Betsema completed the top five.

For Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, the contrast with the previous day could hardly have been greater. After winning HG Cross Heerde on Saturday, the Dutch champion struggled to find her rhythm in Overijse and finished eighth at 1:50.

How it unfolded

Overijse opened the Superprestige season on its familiar climbing-heavy circuit around the Begijnhof. The course was drier than Brand had expected after the rain earlier in the week, but the repeated climbs and technical descents still made it difficult for riders to settle into a comfortable rhythm.

Fouquenet made the best start and led onto the off-road sections. Brand quickly moved forward to join her, with Van der Heijden and Betsema completing an early four-rider group.

Van Alphen bridged across during lap two and Kristýna Zemanová followed. Alicia Franck then made contact shortly before the third lap, creating a seven-rider lead group.

Alvarado was not part of it. The winner in Heerde had already lost around 10 seconds after the first lap and continued to concede ground during the second, leaving her with too much work to do once the strongest riders began attacking at the front.

Van Alphen attacks and Brand responds

Van Alphen was the first rider to try to break up the growing front group. She accelerated shortly before the third lap, but Brand responded almost immediately.

The world champion’s counter had a much greater effect. After around 18 minutes of racing she increased the pace on the longer climbs, and only Van Alphen and Van der Heijden could initially stay close.

Brand kept pressing rather than allowing the trio to settle. Before halfway she created a five-second advantage, while Fouquenet and Betsema were already 28 seconds behind and Zemanová and Franck another eight seconds further back.

That small initial gap proved enough. Brand continued riding at a high tempo without the repeated accelerations that had characterised the opening laps, and neither Van Alphen nor Van der Heijden could bring her back.

Brand turns five seconds into a controlled solo

The gap grew steadily over the second half of the race. Brand reached the final lap 18 seconds ahead of Van Alphen and 29 seconds clear of Van der Heijden, leaving the main uncertainty behind her rather than around the victory.

Van Alphen had already established herself as the strongest of the chasers and eventually secured second. Van der Heijden held third, while Fouquenet and Betsema fought over fourth more than a minute behind the leader.

Brand avoided the kind of late mistake that had cost her at Overijse the previous year and completed the final circuit without allowing Van Alphen to reduce the gap significantly. She crossed the line 17 seconds clear to take her third victory from five starts this cyclocross season.

Fouquenet won the battle for fourth, three seconds ahead of Betsema. Zemanová finished sixth at 1:25, with Franck seventh two seconds later. Alvarado recovered enough positions to take eighth ahead of Julie Brouwers and Hélène Clauzel.

Brand solves the problem of a growing lead group

The decisive feature of Brand’s race was not one explosive attack but her decision to stop allowing the front group to keep expanding.

After the finish, Brand explained that she did not want to spend the race continually fighting for position inside a large group. Raising the tempo achieved two things at once: it reduced the number of riders around her and forced everyone else to ride at her preferred pace.

Van Alphen and Van der Heijden were strong enough to survive the first increase, but neither could match the next one. Once Brand was alone, she could use the climbing sections to maintain the pressure without taking unnecessary risks on the descents.

The result also answers some of the uncertainty created by her third place at the Nacht van Woerden, where she had been troubled by back discomfort after an earlier fall. There was little evidence of that limitation in Overijse.

Brand now leads the Superprestige with the maximum 15 points from the opening round, one ahead of Van Alphen. She has not committed to making the overall classification a season-long target, but Overijse has at least given her the best possible starting position before round two in Middelkerke on 5 November.

Superprestige Overijse women 2026 result