Superprestige Middelkerke: Aniek van Alphen puts in dominant performance ahead of European Championships

Aniek van Alphen (777tv) pulled off her first victory of the season in the nighttime Superprestige in Middelkerke, soloing away from the field on the second lap and maintaining a strong advantage to the finish. The result signalled she will be a strong competitor at the upcoming European Championships in Zeddam on Saturday.

Defending European champion Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon) couldn’t chip away at Van Alphen’s lead after missing the attack as she was caught in traffic in the early laps. However, she held on for second place, conserving her energy after distancing Denise Betsema (De Ceuster Bouwkranen), who bobbled in the final lap and had to settle for third.

The nighttime round of the Superprestige had a small women’s field with the European Championships just two days away. While the race was missing top rider Lucinda Brand, 27 women toed the line under the bright lights in Middelkerke.

After following closely as Hélène Clauzel (777tv) took the hole shot, Defending champion Amandine Fouquenet (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw) remained at the head of the race for the first lap.

But on the next one, she bobbled on one of the many short, steep climbs and had to chase Van Alphen, who opened up a lead of six seconds at the start of lap three.

Fouquenet continued to fade as European champion Van der Heijden caught Clauzel and set off in pursuit of Van Alphen. Betsema latched on during the fourth lap to form a three-rider chase.

Clauzel began to struggle, losing touch with Van der Heijden and Betsema, and by the end of lap four, the European champion was 10 seconds behind, with Betsema just ahead of Clauzel at 15 seconds by the start of the fifth lap.

It was Van der Heijden and Betsema chasing together with two laps to go, with a 14-second deficit to Van Alphen, with Clauzel and Fouquenet further behind.

Betsema surged on lap six, bringing the gap to the leader down to ten seconds but Van Alphen matched her acceleration and extended her lead on the sinuous second half of the circuit and started the final lap with 16 seconds over the two chasers.

Results