Ava Holmgren wanted to show off her Pan American Cyclocross Championships junior women's jersey at a World Cup race this season, and on Sunday she made the podium at the World Cup Maasmechelen in Belgium.

The competition is fierce, especially for the 17-year-old, whose top challenger is her twin sister Isabella, also Canadian and a bronze medalist at the Pan American Championships in Garland, Texas, a year ago.

The dynamic duo, both with the Stimulus Orbea Racing team, have competed in all four UCI Cyclocross World Cup races this season. Since there was no junior category, the duo took part in the elite fields in Waterloo and Fayetteville. Ava finished one spot off the podium, her first top five World Cup finish. A week later, Ava beat out two rivals, Cat Ferguson of Great Britain and Celia Gerry of France, for her first World Cup podium finish in Belgium.

"This has been my goal all season and to achieve it yesterday was really crazy. It means a lot to race with other junior girls and to be recognized as a World Cup category," Eva Holmgren posted on Instagram on Monday.

She further thanked the three female cyclists who "helped the sport grow and have been great role models for women over the past years."

The women's peloton is seeing a wave of young stars on the rise, with a trio of Dutch 20-year-olds, led by Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal's Femme van Empel, who won her fourth consecutive Elite Women's World Cup last weekend, sweeping the podium. The Holmgren sisters will look to their U23 riders and hope to capitalize on their final junior season.

"This is my last year in the junior category," said Holmgren. So in the first elite race of the season, I'll be concentrating on getting into the groove and not worrying too much about results."

"I'm also keeping an eye on the U23 riders. Next year I will be racing with the U23 riders.

Now in their second year of junior cyclocross racing, the Holmgren sisters have started in the top 20 in their first two World Cup races. Their best finish came in Waterloo, Wisconsin, where Ava was 15th and Isabella 16th The two were the youngest of the 34 riders.

In Fayetteville, Ava moved up to 14th, while Isabella dropped four places, again the youngest.

"I want to have a good start to the season and find things to work on throughout the rest of the year. I also want to use my strengths as much as possible so that I can do my best in the technical sections like the fast corners," Eva said of the dry conditions for the first two World Cup races in the US.

"It's similar to a mountain bike course. I want to use my skills as much as possible so that when the hard flat sections and climbs come, I don't run out of gas.

Eva has five junior podium finishes this year, including three wins. Isabella has four junior podiums, including one win. Yes, the sisters have combined these four wins for a one-two finish, but they have no gifts for each other.

"In certain races we work together. But before every race we always decide how many laps we're going to race each other. Isabella said of the bond between the sisters. They battle, especially in the last few laps of the race, to see who will win."

The sisters are not identical in appearance or riding style. Isabella is a few inches taller and Eva has a deeper voice. However, they both developed their technical skills on mountain bikes, and now their older brother, Gunnar Holmgren, focuses on racing. He is six years older and has won two Canadian U23 cyclocross national titles, the last coming in the 2019-2020 season.

Just a month ago, Ava and Isabella were not scheduled to participate in the Pan American Cyclocross Championships, which were scheduled to be held in Costa Rica for the first time on November 5-6.

Organizers belatedly decided to cancel the event, leaving the continental championships in limbo due to the lack of access to the venue. Then the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross, a long-standing event in Massachusetts, sprang up and added a day to the C1/C2 weekend to provide a new home for the Pan-Amateur.

"At the beginning of the season, I had no intention of going to Costa Rica. But now I have the chance to defend my title, and it's going to be a really big challenge, but I'm looking forward to it," Abba told Cycling News about his short trip from home to Falmouth and his first appearance at Really Rad. 'It could be really fast and dry, or it could be muddy. I can enjoy either condition, so whatever the conditions I'm looking forward to it."

After the Pan competition, the Canadian pair will focus on the cyclocross national championships, which are back for the first time in two years. The Canadian Championships will be held on November 26 in Saanich, British Columbia, north of Vancouver.