Superprestige Merksplas: Lucinda Brand returns to take brilliant win after a race long fight.

Lucinda Brand (Baloise-Het Poetsbureau Lions) returned after her midweek injury to win a brilliantly aggressive and combative race at the Aardbeiencross in Merksplas on Saturday.

Brand had been part of a three-woman group which emerged on the last of the eight lap race, which formed the fourth race of the Superprestige series, the World Champion finally getting a gap in the decisive sand pit, winning by two seconds ahead of Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon), with teammate Sara Casasola taking third.

It was a remarkable comeback for Brand after she sprained her ankle and withdrew on the opening lap of the previous round at Niel on Wednesday. However, it was Casasola who made the race, attacking multiple times on every lap, though she burnt too many matches and was unable to take what would have been her first win of the year.

The race waxed and waned for much of its eight laps, groups getting away and re-forming, though each time with fewer riders in the leading group, and it was only on the final lap that the winning group got away.

More to follow…

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