Daphné Merlevede

Daphné is a 26-year-old Bruges entrepreneur with spunk. We got to know her as the short track star who participated in the "Koers zkt. Woman" contest. That she had never been on a cross bike before did not deter her in the least. From the ice track to the mud on the field. We thought that was tremendously cool.  

In the short track discipline, Daphné was a late bloomer. She did not start it until her 18th birthday. However, that did not stop her from making tremendous progress in a short period of time. Barely five years later, she was already at the start of her first World Cup race as a member of the women's relay team. The ultimate goal is or was the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, the corona pandemic threw a spanner in the works, causing Daphné to look for an alternative. Because sitting still is clearly not an option for Daphné. 

And that on Koers zkt. Woman, to her own surprise, she did damn well too. Daphné popped through all the preliminaries and amazed in several disciplines. From a field of more than 1,000 Belgian sporting women, a selection was made in several rounds. Daphné eventually stranded in the penultimate shuffle. There the last 10 participants competed in a real cyclocross race for the best three places. Daphné was unfortunately not on the podium but was still satisfied with her cyclocross debut. 

At The Vandal, we are thrilled to have found a new ambassador in her. Sporty and entrepreneurial as she is, she totally fits the The Vandal and Vandalista picture!