Two-time French Cyclo-cross Champion Amandine Fouquenet continued to impress at Friday’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Gavere, where she claimed second place, her third World Cup podium.
After a strong start to the season with seven top 10 finishes and a win at a Coupe de France cyclo-cross in Quelneuc, the 24-year-old rider turned heads, claiming two podiums at back-to-back World Cups: second in Flamanville, followed by third place at Namur.
She then went one better, putting in a scorching solo attack on the second-to-last lap to win Superprestige Heusden-Zolder, taking the biggest win of her career at the second event of the Kerstperiode.
Three days later in Gavere, Fouquenet put in a hard early pace, and although she was no match for the unstoppable Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions), who claimed her 10th victory in a row, she was able to hold off a charging Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) to take second place.
“I'm really very happy; the pressure has eased a bit after my victory [at Heusden-Zolder]. I wouldn't say that everything from now on is just a bonus, because I want to give my best until the end of the season, but I'm already very happy with this season,” Fouquenet said after her runner-up finish on Friday.
She described her battle with Pieterse “really tough.”
“In the physical sections of the course, I'd say I was a little better than her, so I took advantage of that to try and make a difference, because I knew that in the technical sections, she was better and would catch up quite quickly. It was a great battle.”
In all her post-race interviews, Fouquenet has been very clear that she is still on the hunt for a team for 2026 following the collapse of the Arkéa-B&B Hotels team, where she spent four years.
At the start of the cyclo-cross season in October, Fouquenet posted on Instagram that “The future remains uncertain... But I remain hopeful that cyclocross will open up a great opportunity for me in 2026.”
After Gavere, she said that she hoped her results would entice teams to sign her.
“The fact that I'm getting concrete results – I didn't just get a podium finish in Flamanville, now it’s Namur, and I won this week, and then finished second again. I certainly hope this strengthens the teams' confidence in choosing me.”
“I still have nothing,” she replied when asked if she had signed with a team.
Fouquenet is on the start list for the eighth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Dendermonde on Sunday.
