The dominant way in which Leonie Bentveld claimed the European under-23 title in Middelkerke has pushed an already growing question back into the spotlight: how long until the 21-year-old Dutch rider becomes a permanent force among the elite women? Her team boss, Jurgen Mettepenningen, believes that moment is close. Speaking to In de Leiderstrui, he said that Bentveld is now “very close to the level of Lucinda Brand and Fem van Empel,” adding that “she has not much more to go. If she makes the same small step she did this season, she will be at the very top of the world.”
Bentveld certainly looked every bit a future star on Sunday. She rode away from her rivals early, putting more than a minute into Celia Gery, and controlled the race with an authority that suggested she belonged among the very best. Her win in Middelkerke was also a personal milestone. As she explained afterwards, she had never before secured a title outside her Dutch national colours, and that added to the moment. “It hadn’t worked out yet to take a title outside the Dutch jersey,” she said. “That definitely adds to the joy. It’s really special that it finally happened.”
Her European success is part of a season that already reads like the record of a rider ready to mix it with the elite full-time. She opened the campaign with victory at Brumath in early October, followed soon after by fifth place in the Superprestige round at Ruddervoorde. A strong ride at the Exact Cross in Heerde brought her third place, followed by a solid fifth at the X2O Trofee round in Lokeren. Those results, delivered against deep elite fields, set the tone for what she would finish off so emphatically on the Belgian coast in November.
Bentveld’s tactical clarity in Middelkerke reflected a rider who already thinks like a seasoned racer. She described how the plan was to “start fast and see how the situation looked.” It worked better than expected, leaving her to manage the gap and ride within herself. “After that I had to ride steady to the finish,” she explained. “Whoever made the fewest mistakes would have the advantage, so that’s what I focused on – and I didn’t make any mistakes.”
The conversation now naturally turns to what comes next. Bentveld already has the explosive start, the cool decision-making and the technical fluency to trouble the elite on a wide variety of courses. What she has not yet been given is the chance to ride an entire winter as a protected rider at that level. If the step she makes from this season into the next is anything like the one she has just completed, Mettepenningen’s prediction of her joining the world’s best sooner rather than later looks increasingly difficult to argue with.
