About van Empel and mountain biking: Before 2023, she only competed in some junior and under-23 races during the summer (van Empel started cycling at the end of 2019, competing at a local/national level). At the beginning of 2023, she signed with Jumbo-Visma and was crowned cyclocross world champion in Hoogerheide. From there, she participated in some second-tier road races and then transitioned to mountain biking, where she achieved the following results:
- Nove Mesto World Cup: 17th position in her first elite race in the discipline (ahead of riders like Laura Stigger, Teochi, Lill).
- Lenzerheide World Cup: 16th position ahead of Sina Frei, Neff, Courtney. In this race, she was in 9th place at the start of the final lap, but a fall dropped her to 16th.
- European Championship: 10th place, ahead of Berta, Indergand, etc.
All these results were achieved without the support of a specialized mountain bike team and with a new bike (Cervelo ZFS-5 and ZFH-5) that only she and Milan Vader were using. In summary, she’s a rider who, in her first contact with the elite category, after a very limited stint in the lower categories, has shown she’s among the best in the world (top 20), with much room for improvement in various aspects. Sina Frei herself recently won a World Cup race, when at the beginning of the year, she was in the top 20 - top 30.
I believe her decision to step away from mountain biking is influenced by her team (Visma), for whom her presence on the road is much more valuable than in MTB, a discipline with a smaller audience. Hopefully, in the future (she’s 22), she’ll return to that discipline, as I believe she can compete at the highest level.