Fine Fire for hindering Alvarado in material zone: “Wrong choice”
Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 2:56 PM
After her victory in the Superprestige cyclocross in Boom, Lucinda Brand was fined. The later winner had hindered competitor Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado in the material zone in the final. At a bicycle change, Brand threw her bicycle in front of Alvarado’s, who was held up. “That was the wrong choice,” Brand says afterwards.
“It was an unpleasant combination of circumstances,” says Brand. “We entered the post together and I didn’t know where her mechanics were. But they were close to mine, so I made a choice what to do. That was the wrong choice. ”
‘You don’t want to eliminate a competitor like this’
“It was not the intention at all to run anyone down,” she explains. “At that moment I had no choice anymore, because I have to change in the material zone. So all I could do after that material zone was wait for Ceylin. I also apologized then, because you don’t want to eliminate a competitor that way. I hope people don’t think I wanted to. ”
Brand had to answer to the jury afterwards and was fined. “If it costs me a fine, then I understand,” she says. “There will be rules, I don’t know all of them by heart, but I take them for granted. At that moment you have a high heart rate and I made this choice, I cannot turn it back. ”
Alvarado reacted “a little angry” to the incident. Brand understands that. “I can understand that it is just as annoying as it happens to you. I think she assumes I didn’t do it on purpose and I told her personally, ”she says.
‘Stronger on the climbing parts’
In the cross itself, Brand was very strong, she drove away from Alvarado on the penultimate lap. “I noticed that I was a bit stronger on the climbing parts. But Ceylin was excellent in the descents, so it was very difficult to break. Fortunately it worked in the final and I was able to maintain that difference ”, says Brand.
