For devotees of cyclocross, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has been a household name for the past three years.
But for those who haven’t been following under-23 women’s cyclocross and this year’s elite women’s field, the 21-year-old’s win this weekend at the world championships may have been a bit of a shock. Suddenly, the old guard—Marianne Vos, Sanne Cant, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot—are being usurped by a field of younger riders.
After winning at the UCI World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium, earlier in the season, del Carmen Alvarado slid into the lead in the overall standings. She eventually lost to Annemarie Worst after a devastating bobble in the final moments of the Hoogerheide World Cup.
Her confidence after Hoogerheide, Belgium, may have been shaken momentarily, but she stuck to her plan: Race in the elite field and try to win the Cyclocross World Championships in Dübendorf, Switzerland, the next weekend.
Del Carmen Alvarado had decided earlier that month to race the elite women’s race, turning down what would have been an almost certain win in the under-23 category in favor of the glory and gravity of the elite women’s jersey. On the start line, she looked comfortable and determined.
The race quickly whittled down to three Dutch riders, including del Carmen Alvarado, off the front. None of them seemed to be able to make an attack stick, and even the announcers were pointing out that in a sprint, del Carmen Alvarado would have virtually no chance against Worst and Lucinda Brand—both strong sprinters who had beaten del Carmen Alvarado in sprint finishes earlier in the season. But a perfect straight setup into the finish and an all-out sprint gave del Carmen Alvarado the exciting win:
At her age, the win isn’t without precedent. She’s not the first under-23 racer to win an elite world championship medal—in 2015, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was simultaneously road, mountain bike, and cyclocross world champion at only 22 years old. That same year in the men’s field, current and now three-time world champion Mathieu Van der Poel won his first elite title at 20 years old.
In addition to being one of the youngest elite world champions, though, she also adds her name to the list of amazing cyclists of color who have taken world champion titles, and becomes the first in cyclocross. The Dutch racer was born and spent the first five years of her life in the Dominican Republic.
“I do not feel 100 percent Dutch because I was born in the Dominican Republic, my parents are Dominican, at home we speak Spanish... I feel 80 percent Dominican and 20 percent Dutch because I lived here all my life,” she told Ciclo 21 in an interview earlier this year.
“When we started, it was difficult because we were different and we spoke another language. My mother and father, during the races, encourage us in Spanish and that is something that goes out of the norm regarding the rest of people in Belgium or the Netherlands, but now people already know us and know how we are. It is as if we were one of them, with the only difference that we speak another language and we are of another color.”
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Del Carmen Alvarado’s accomplishments are impressive, but not shocking if you’ve followed her trajectory. While she’s relatively new to cyclocross, having started in 2015, she quickly took to it. By her second year of racing she was winning UCI races, like the Qiansen Trophy in China. By the next year, she won a silver medal in the under-23 women’s field at worlds and raced into a podium position at the classic nighttime race in Belgium, Nacht van Woerden.
In 2018, her star was clearly on the rise: She won the Under-23 European Championships and was third at world championships in the same category. She also was on the podium at two Superprestige series races and won a DVV Trophy Cyclocross Series race, competing against the top women in the world.
Then, this season, she leveled up. In addition to winning worlds, she’s been steadily racking up race wins and podiums all season, including the title of Dutch National Champion, second place at the Nommay and Namur World Cups, and her win at the Koksijde World Cup.
Since taking her recent world championship win, del Carmen Alvarado hasn’t appeared much on social media or given many interviews. Her short Instagram post on Monday nicely sums up her win, though: “All in or nothing, I chose the first one.”
