Fem Van Empel

Standing 5'8" with blonde hair and blue eyes, Fem Van Empel is a Dutch professional racing cyclist born on September 3, 2002, in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. She has been active in the sport since 2019, starting at age 16, and has spent seven years competing at a high level.

Her career highlights include winning the under-23 race at the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in January. The following season, she claimed victories in the women's elite race at both the World Championships and the European Cyclo-cross Championships. On 22 January 2023, she secured the overall UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup title for the 2022-23 season. In February 2023, she clinched the X20 Badkamers Trophy in Brussels, and her first race in the World Champions jersey saw her finish first at Lille, celebrated for her 'Pidcock' pose across the finish line.

Her dominance continued into the 2023-24 season, where she won her first eleven races. Combined with five consecutive wins at the end of the prior season, her streak of first places in top-level cyclo-cross reached sixteen.