The victory could not have come at a better time, as her future is still uncertain. The Arkéa rider has still not found a new home for the upcoming 2026 road season, as her team will no longer exist on January 1. “Hopefully this win helps me find a new contract. Ideally with a team where I can continue to combine road racing and cyclo-cross.”
Fouquenet is the French champion, yet she does not have a team for 2026
Mixed emotions among the contenders
Blanka Vas, who finished second, was relieved after a difficult period earlier in the cyclocross season. “I’m very happy with this second place,” she said. “After the Koppenberg [at the beginning of November] I had a tough period and skipped several races.”
Asked about the events that disrupted the chase, Vas dismissed them as race incidents. “I thought Van der Heijden would start riding, but suddenly she stopped. And I was already on my limit. regarding a shoulder-to-shoulder bump, that was a race incident. We were riding into each other in the chasing group.”
For Van Alphen, however, the situation was unfair. “That phase in the corner after the second pit area wasn’t clean. One of the three of us was always going to be the victim, and that ended up being Van der Heijden.”
Hesitation amongst the chasers was the decisive factor that allowed Fouquenet to secure the victory. “Blanka looked at us asking why we weren’t riding, but we were thinking about the overall standings. That’s how it turned into a tactical standoff.”