While several headliners did not make the trip, Amandine Fouquenet did well to win the Superprestige round held in Heusden-Zolder. The French champion thus puts an end to eight years of waiting for the French clan.
Amandine Fouquenet will make the colors of the Arkéa-BxB Hotels team shine until the end. While she was hovering around victory since the start of the cyclo-cross season, including a second place in front of her home crowd in Flamanville on November 30, the French champion in the discipline achieved her goal.
This Tuesday, on the Heusden-Zolder circuit, the native of Vitré won the fifth stage of the Superprestige after a solo race. In a very busy calendar at the end of the year, several leading runners did not show up at the start, including Lucinda Brand, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado and Shirin van Anrooij.
Fouquenet well placed from the start
Despite everything, European champion Inge van der Heijden was able to respond from the first of the six rounds on the program. The Dutchwoman thus took her place in a group of five runners with her compatriot Aniek van Alphen, the members of the SD Worx-Protime team Marie Schreiber and Blanka Vas but also Amandine Fouquenet. A quintet which opened the road during the first half of the event before seeing the Belgians Marion Norbert Riberolle and Fleur Moors return. It was in the penultimate loop on the program that the French champion made a start allowing her to isolate herself at the head of the race.
Fouquenet untouchable in the finale
The Breton was never seen again by her opponents. Amandine Fouquenet thus signs the greatest success of her career with eight seconds ahead of Blanka Vas, who narrowly beat Aniek van Alphen. A success which puts an end to eight years of waiting, the last French victory on the international scene dating back to December 2017 with a certain Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. And it comes at the right time for Amandine Fouquenet, who is still looking for a team for the 2026 season due to the disappearance of the Arkéa-BxB Hotels team at the end of this year. Her performances can only speak for her.
