Puck Pieterse admitted he was "a little lucky" to win the women's cyclocross World Cup in Hulst after rival Fem van Empel suffered a crash that put her rear derailleur in crash mode.

The two have been close throughout the season, with van Empel winning four World Cup races and Pieterse taking her first win in Overijse last weekend.

The Dutch rivals battled again on the difficult Hulst course early in the season.

However, European champion Van Empel crashed on an off-camber bank in the middle of the race, sending the rear derailleur into crash mode.

Unable to move out of the hardest gear, the Pauwels-Sausen-Bingor rider was forced to run to the pits, losing 54 seconds.

The technically adept Pieters finished with a 42-second advantage despite falling twice on the same off-camber banking.

It was Pieterse's second consecutive World Cup win, but before the decisive crash, she anticipated a tough challenge from Van Empel.

"I started really fast and had a bit of a gap, but on the second or third lap Femme [Van Empel] closed it down.

"I think she crashed when she took over and the derailleur was in crash mode. I think the derailleur was in crash mode."

"After that I just had to push hard. It was a hard race with all the climbing and I felt that Femme was stronger in that part of the race, so I was a little lucky today with his crash, otherwise it would have been a battle for first and second place."

Van Empel described the crash, in which he lost control of the bars on a slippery descent and ended up handing victory to rival Pieters.

The World Cup leader, however, held off Shirin van Ambrooy and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, who were battling for the last podium spot, to finish second.

"I crashed in a corner and lost complete control of the bars and the car went into crash mode. I had to fight for second place because Ceylin was coming and Ceylin was coming too, so I'm happy with second place, it's a good result for me and I'm looking forward to the next race in the championship.

All three riders on the podium were 20 years old, with van Ambrooy finishing third behind his rivals for the second consecutive race.

On a demanding course with steep banking and technical descents, Van Anluy finished 1:47 behind eventual winner Pieterse.

However, the Valoise Trek Lions rider was satisfied with his third World Cup podium of the season after the big crash the day before.

"I really like this course, but I had a big crash on my arm yesterday, so I wasn't sure what to do before the start.

"I couldn't get a good grip on the handlebars but I'm really happy with my start, I was hoping for a top 10 finish and it went better than I expected. [37] [38] "I expected the time difference to be big, but I didn't expect it to be this big. It was hard and technical because of the mud. It was another puck show today."[37] [38] "It was a good day for me. She was really flying on this course.