Belgian champion shows her driekleur to win home race and take series lead
Sanne Cant (BKCP-Powerplus) won the women’s Krawatencross in her hometown of Lille, Belgium to take the biggest victory of her career. The 20-year-old Belgian champion beat Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) after the World champion rolled a tyre on the final lap, and German champion Hanka Kupfernagel (Stevens) finished third.
“During the warm up I felt pretty good,” Cant told Sport.be, “but with Vos and Kupfernagel at the start I knew if would be difficult to win; but both of them suffered from unfortunate bike changes.
“Vos still came back,” she explained, “just at the point I wanted to accelerate – there’s an important point on the course that I’d noted on my exploration this week – she rolled her tyre.
“I’ve no idea if I would have won otherwise. If you arrive at the line with Vos then she’ll more than likely beat someone like me,” she laughed. “I think that even when she’s running she’s a faster sprinter than me!”
In the very first lap Cant, buoyed by her home crowd and riding on sand, her favourite surface, followed the immediate acceleration from Vos and Kupfernagel and the three riders rode away from the rest of the field.
Mid way through the race disaster struck for Kupfernagel when she fell in the pits while changing her bike. She got up and remounted but was unable to catch the other two. On the penultimate lap the exact same thing happened to Vos, leaving Cant alone in the lead.
Vos managed to chase down Cant in the course of the lap, but close to the finish the World champion suffered another disaster as her rear tyre rolled off on a corner.
Cant went on to win the biggest race of her career on her home course; Vos was forced to shoulder her bike and run to the finish, crossing the line only a few metres ahead of Kupfernagel.
With GvA Trofee leader Sanne Van Paassen (Brainwash Wielerploeg) absent with a respiratory infection, and Daphny Van Den Brand (ZZPR.nl) only just returning from the illness that made her miss the World Championships, Cant’s victory also gives her the lead in the overall competition. British champion Helen Wyman (Kona-FSA) is the only rider with a chance of overtaking Cant in the final race in Oostmalle in two weeks time.
Even though she enjoys an 11-point lead over Wyman, the Belgian champion is taking nothing for granted. “We’ll just have to wait and see because anything can happen,” she said, “it’s something you can never predict in advance, eh?”
Result women’s Krawatencross
1. Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Stevens
4. Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA
5. Sabrina Stultiens (Ned) Brainwash Wielerploeg
6. Nikki Harris (GBr) APB Cycling Team
7. Pavla Havlikova (Cze) APB Cycling Team
8. Joyce Vanderbeken (Bel)
9. Arenda Grimberg (Ned)
10. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl
GvA Trofee standings after 4 rounds
1. Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 83pts
2. Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA 72
3. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl 69
4. Sanne Van Paassen (Ned) Brainwash Wielerploeg 60
5. Pavla Havlikova (Cze) APB Cycling Team 56