US champion is fastest in the dunes while Daphny Van Den Brand takes series lead
Katie Compton (Planet Bike) won the third round of the cyclocross World Cup in the sand dunes of Koksjde, on the north coast of Belgium. The US champion took her second victory in the World Cup this season, maintaining her own personal perfect record after missing the second round in Plzen, Czech Republic, to show that once again she will be the rider to beat this season on virtually any surface.
Dutch champion Daphny Van Den Brand (ZZPR.nl) finished second, almost two and half minutes behind Compton; Plzen winner, and World Cup leader Sanne Van Paassen (Brainwash) was not far behind her former teammate in third place.
“I’m definitely improved in the sand”, said Compton to Sport.be. “Last year, I made one mistake after another, this time it was effortless. Alone in the front was easy cycling, so I could pull myself round the course.”
Compton accelerated on the very first lap and steadily rode the rest of the field off her wheel. Her race could not have been more different to last year’s edition when she crashed and had to change her bike on the first lap, then crashed several more times in the sand. The American kept the pressure on all the way to the finish, continuing to increase her lead over the two Dutch chasers.
“I kept going full on as training for the upcoming competitions,” she explained, “because I know that Katerina Nash is going very well.”
The US champion only recently flew in from the States, where she has been dominating the domestic scene, to contest this race. She will be returning almost immediately though, in order to defend her stars and stripes jersey, before returning to Europe once more.
“I’m going back to the US,” she said, “where I’ll defend my national title in two weeks. The level is really high at home, including the American Czech Katerina Nash and with Georgia Gould. After the championship I will return for Kalmthout [the World Cup race on December 19th – Ed].”
“After that I’ll ride all the World Cup races except Pont-Château.”
Van Den Brand’s second place sees the Dutch champion overtake Van Paassen in the overall World Cup standings
Result World Cup Koksijde:
1. Katie Compton (USA) Planet Bike
2. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl @ 2’27”
3. Sanne Van Paassen (Ned) Brainwash Wielerploeg @ 2’46”
4. Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus @ 3’21”
5. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) @ 3’40”
6. Sophie De Boer (Ned) ZZPR.nl @ 3’41”
7. Pavla Havlikova (Cze) APB Cycling Team @ 3’48”
8. Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Fra) Vienne-Futuroscope @ 3’51”
9. Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA @ 404”
10. Sabrina Schweizer (Ger) @ 4’34”
World Cup standings after 3 rounds:
1. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl 150pts
2. Sanne Van Paassen (Ned) Brainwsh Wielerploeg 145
3. Katie Compton (USA) Planet Bike 120
4. Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 94
5. Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Pro Team 90