Superprestige Merksplas 2026 women’s preview as Van Alphen defends narrow lead

Three different winners from three races have left the women’s Superprestige finely balanced before Saturday’s Aardbeiencross. Aniek van Alphen leads by three points, Manon Bakker has just won convincingly at Niel, and Lucinda Brand is facing a fitness test after hurting her ankle. Merksplas begins at 12:40 GMT on Saturday, 14 November, with both a race victory and potentially significant overall points at stake.

Merksplas is round four of eight and follows a strikingly open sequence. Brand won Overijse, Van Alphen won Middelkerke and Bakker mastered the mud at Niel. The outcome here will say as much about which riders can repeat their level across different courses as it will about raw speed.

Photo Credit: David Pintens / Belga / AFP via Getty Images

The Superprestige standings make every place important

Four women are separated by just seven points after the first three rounds. Van Alphen has 40, Betsema 37, Van der Heijden 36 and Fouquenet 33. A single victory can help a rider change that order, but a mistake that leaves her outside the points can matter much more. This is why the title contenders may approach the first lap differently from riders with less to lose.

Van Alphen established her advantage with second place at Overijse and a win in Middelkerke. She does not rely on one isolated strong race. Her second place here last season is relevant because it confirms she can remain competitive on the combination of grass, woodland and sand around Merksplas-Kolonie.

Betsema has made a virtue of consistency rather than claiming the spotlight. The sandy stretches and repeated changes of surface provide opportunities for her technical experience to count, particularly if she can avoid chasing hard after an early error. Van der Heijden was third at the 2025 race and has also been near the front repeatedly this autumn.

The series awards 15 points to the winner and 14 to second, reducing by one point per finishing place to fifteenth. A rider who is no longer fighting for the race win may still have plenty at stake. The Superprestige history and scoring guide explains the classification.

Bakker has the form after taking control at Niel

Bakker turned the Jaarmarktcross into a landmark result on Wednesday. She rode clear in demanding mud to take her first Superprestige victory, ahead of Sara Casasola and Betsema. That was an earned win on a course that punished poor handling, not a fortunate sprint after the favourites had watched one another.

Niel offered a very particular test: repeated deep-mud sections made each acceleration harder, and Bakker handled them more effectively than the chasing field. The race report from Niel shows what she did well. Merksplas brings different transitions between sand, grass and more rideable surfaces, so another dominant solo is possible rather than inevitable.

Bakker is not yet a serious threat for the overall classification despite Wednesday’s win, having missed enough earlier points to sit well behind the leaders. That frees her to ride for the day rather than count places. If the first laps produce a small group, she has shown she is willing to force the pace rather than wait for a sprint.

Casasola’s second place at Niel also deserves attention. She held her line and stayed competitive when the pace became uneven. An aggressive rider who can respond quickly through difficult sections may find an opening if the overall contenders become preoccupied with each other.

Brand is the difficult rider to assess after her ankle scare

Brand won last year’s Aardbeiencross by riding away in the middle of the race. She remains a particularly dangerous rider on this course because she can combine an uncompromising pace with clean technical riding. Her European championship victory at Zeddam further underlined the form that brought her into Niel as a favourite.

Brand’s abandonment at Niel was not simply a bad result. She hurt an ankle early and could not race comfortably. Team manager Sven Nys said subsequent checks found no serious damage, but the foot would need protection. That is encouraging medical news, not proof that her technical ability will be unaffected by the time the riders reach the first sand section.

A start list or declaration of intent cannot show how a rider will feel in the first technical section. Repeated shifts of weight, running with the bike and forceful accelerations can expose an injury that is less apparent in ordinary walking. For that reason Brand is simultaneously a leading contender and the largest sporting uncertainty.

If Brand can race without limitation, an early solo attack is possible. If she rides cautiously or opts not to start, Van Alphen and the other regular podium finishers have more scope to take the initiative. The first lap is likely to establish which of those two versions of the contest viewers will see.

Merksplas-Kolonie offers a different challenge from Niel

The Aardbeiencross uses a circuit around Merksplas-Kolonie with meadows, sandy tracks, wooded paths and shorter hard surfaces. Riders also negotiate planks, a bridge and banks. The course was made more compact in 2025, but its mix of sections retained the character that has long made this an important November cyclocross race.

Rain in the preceding days could leave some corners slippery even if Saturday itself stays dry. Tyre grip becomes a tactical variable rather than a simple equipment choice. A rider who can keep pedalling through the sand may gain time without a spectacular attack; another may lose seconds every lap by struggling to restart.

The race may be decided in the unremarkable places between the obstacles. A clean corner exit allows a rider to accelerate once and stay seated; a poor line forces her to sprint repeatedly just to regain contact. In heavy conditions that difference becomes larger with every lap, which is why a small early gap can become difficult to recover.

Our Merksplas course history and previous winners feature places that challenge in context. Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado have recently dominated the women’s winners list, but their past results cannot determine who will find the quickest lines this weekend.

Contenders and how the race might unfold

Van Alphen is the strongest starting point for an overall-series prediction. She carries the lead, has been competitive across different course conditions and knows what it takes to finish on the podium in Merksplas. Her task is to race for a result without exposing herself to unnecessary risks that would surrender valuable points.

Bakker has momentum and little reason to ride defensively. If the field is still relatively compact after the first lap, she may try to raise the tempo on the heavier sections. Her win at Niel demonstrated that she can sustain an advantage when everyone else must decide whether to chase.

Betsema and Van der Heijden are both plausible podium challengers. Fouquenet and Clauzel add depth, and Casasola is riding well enough to challenge if the course suits her. Those are form-based assessments; they should not be mistaken for a separately verified complete roll-call of the Saturday starters.

Brand remains the unknown around which the race could turn. Her 2025 Merksplas victory is strong evidence of what she can do on this circuit, but Wednesday’s ankle incident gives rivals an incentive to race assertively rather than wait. The first few laps will reveal more than any prediction made the afternoon before.

Official start list, race time and how to watch in the UK

The organiser’s women’s elite start list (PDF) is the entry reference for Saturday, rather than the older Niel roster. Even an official list is not a guarantee that every listed rider will start. The contenders assessed here are selected on their racing results, with the final grid best checked on race day.

The elite women race on Saturday, 14 November at 13:40 local time in Belgium, which is 12:40 GMT in Britain. UK coverage is listed on TNT Sports 2 from 12:30 GMT, ahead of the expected start, with HBO Max available for appropriate TNT Sports sport packages.

Our Merksplas women’s TV and streaming guide explains the difference between broadcast and race times. The organisers’ local schedule is one hour ahead of the UK clock in November, so a 13:40 Belgian start does not mean 13:40 in Britain.

The next Superprestige round after Merksplas is Ruddervoorde on 6 December. The full 2026–27 cyclocross calendar includes the remaining December and January dates, by which time the points gathered this weekend will have become an important part of the title battle.