Shirin van Anrooij was the winner of round #12 of the UCI World Cup in Zonhoven, Belgium on Sunday. Puck Pieterse finished second @0:37, while Fem van Empel, the current World Cup leader, finished 3rd @0:54.
How It Happened
Fem van Empel took the lead from the start and looked ready to control the race, but the first descent into the infamous Zonhoven sandpit proved to be too much for her. Barrelling down the descent, Van Empel looked good until she slipped out of a rut and her front wheel dug into the sand and flipped her over handlebars. Sitting in the sand, with riders flying down all around her, Van Empel appeared more shocked than anything else. But she was not alone, a moment later Zoe Backstedt fell in the same way, almost mimicking her hard fall at the EU Championships in Namur in November. For many riders, the two sandpit descents would prove to be their undoing and ultimately determine how well they would do.
With not even a half lap completed, Van Empel now found herself in 11th place and 15 seconds down on the new leaders, Puck Pieterse and Shirin van Anrooij. Unfortunately, the worst was not yet over for Van Empel. As Pieterse and Van Anrooij raced away, lightning struck again on the second sandpit descent for Van Empel and she tumbled off her bike. By the time she remounted and got moving again she was 38 seconds down on the leaders.
With only one lap completed, it was already clear the race was going to be a battle between Pieterse and Van Anrooij. Van Empel was more than half a minute behind and the field was already shattered, strung out, and suffering. (In the final standings, only 23 riders out of 64 would finish on the same lap as the winner. The American, Clara Honsinger, who is usually in the top 10, would finish 21st @6:45)
In lap two, Pieterse made a move and took the lead from Van Anrooij on the first descent into the sandpit. But soon after, in the second sandpit descent, Pieterse succumbed to the same fate as Van Empel and took a tumble and Van Anrooij flew by. The battle was over. Van Anrooij, making the most of Pieterse’s error, used her superior sand skills and steadily forged a lead over the remainder of the race to win by 37 seconds.
Van Anrooij’s victory was not only well-deserved, but also bodes well for the upcoming World Championships, February 4-5, in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. As far as the World Cup standings are concerned, Van Empel still holds the leader’s jersey, with Pieterse in 2nd, and Van Anrooij in 3rd.
