# Fem van Empel

Fem van Empel (born 3 September 2002) is a Dutch professional racing cyclist. In January 2021, she won the women's under-23 race at the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. During the 2022–2023 season she won the women's elite race at the World Championships and the European Cyclo-cross Championships. On 22 January 2023, she secured overall victory at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (2022–23). On 16 February 2023 at Brussels, Fem clinched the X20 Badkamers Trophy. The previous week, her first race in the World Champions jersey, competing in the X20 Badkamers at Lille she finished 1st doing a "Pidcock" (posing as Superwoman) across the finish line. In the cyclo cross season 2023 to 2024 Fem Van Empel was first in her first eleven races. Having finished the previous season with five successive firsts, it brought her run of first places in top level Cyclocross to sixteen. Fem Van Empel retained her UCI World Championship at Tábor on 3 February 2024. One respected commentator (Marty McCrossan) noted he had "run out of superlatives to describe Fem's phenomenal talent", calling her "The Golden Girl of Cyclocross". Another (Ian Field) described her performance as " pretty much perfection". "Velo" noted that "her 18th victory out of what has been (so far) a 20-race season" is "a staggering success rate". Fem completed her 2023 to 2024 season with a win to take the X²O Badkamers Trophy at Lille on 11 February. This took her number of wins for the season to 19 from 21 races. At the end of season 2023 to 2024 Fem's career total number of Elite level Cyclo-cross race wins was 37.

## Major results
### Cyclo-cross
#### 2019–2020

    3rd National Junior Championships
    5th UCI World Junior Championships

#### 2020–2021

    1st UCI World Under-23 Championships
    UCI World Cup
       4th Dendermonde

#### 2021–2022

    1st National Under-23 Championships
    UCI World Cup
       1st Val di Sole
       1st Flamanville
       4th Besançon
       4th Rucphen
       4th Namur
       4th Hoogerheide
       5th Zonhoven
       5th Hulst
    Superprestige
       2nd Heusden-Zolder
    Ethias Cross
       2nd Lokeren
    3rd UCI World Under-23 Championships
    3rd UEC European Under-23 Championships

#### 2022–2023

    1st UCI World Championships
    1st UEC European Championships
    1st Overall UCI World Cup
       1st Waterloo
       1st Fayetteville
       1st Tábor
       1st Maasmechelen
       1st Antwerpen
       1st Dublin
       1st Benidorm
       2nd Beekse Bergen
       2nd Overijse
       2nd Hulst
       3rd Zonhoven
    1st Overall X²O Badkamers Trophy
       1st Koppenberg
       1st Baal
       1st Hamme
       1st Lille
       1st Brussels
       2nd Koksijde
    Exact Cross
       1st Kruibeke
       1st Beringen
       2nd Meulebeke
    3rd National Championships

#### 2023–2024

    1st UCI World Championships
    1st UEC European Championships
    1st Overall X²O Badkamers Trophy
       1st Koppenberg
       1st Kortrijk
       1st Herentals
       1st Baal
       1st Koksijde
       1st Hamme
       1st Lille
    4th Overall UCI World Cup
       1st Waterloo
       1st Maasmechelen
       1st Antwerpen
       1st Benidorm
       1st Hoogerheide
       2nd Gavere
       4th Hulst
    Superprestige
       1st Overijse
       1st Boom
       1st Heusden-Zolder
    Exact Cross
       1st Beringen
    1st Woerden

#### 2024–2025

    1st UCI World Championships
    1st UEC European Championships
    2nd Overall UCI World Cup
       1st Antwerpen
       1st Gavere
       1st Besançon
       1st Benidorm
       2nd Dublin
       3rd Dendermonde
       4th Hoogerheide
    X²O Badkamers Trophy
       1st Koppenberg
       1st Herentals
       1st Baal
       3rd Koksijde
    Exact Cross
       1st Beringen
       1st Kortrijk
    Superprestige
       2nd Ruddervoorde
       2nd Overijse
    3rd Woerden

### Gravel
#### 2023

    1st National Championships
    2nd UEC European Championships

### Mountain bike
#### 2019

    3rd Cross-country, National Junior Championships

#### 2020

    2nd Cross-country, National Junior Championships
    3rd Eliminator, UCI World Championships

#### 2021

    2nd Eliminator, UEC European Championships

#### 2022

    1st Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships

### Road
#### 2022

    3rd Road race, UEC European Under-23 Championships

#### 2023

    1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Avenir
    6th Arnhem–Veenendaal Classic
    8th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Championships

#### 2024

    8th La Flèche Wallonne