As her road race rivals know well, the sight of a finish line prompts a turn of speed in Marianne Vos that is very, very hard to deal with. Dutch compatriot Daphy Van de Brand got to see this firsthand today when she was outsprinted by world champion Vos at the end of the Elite womens race in Koksijde.
Vos’ burst of speed saw her win her first World Cup of the season while Katie Compton fought back from a crash to finish third and hold on to her lead in the overall classification.
In fact, Compton got held up twice by accidents. The first took place almost immediately after the start when a huge pileup occurred, delaying her and several others. Meanwhile a group was pulling ahead of the peloton, with Vos, Sanne Van Passen, Hanke Kupfernagel and Van den Brad all present.
Compton’s second crash saw her go over the handlebars, forcing her to chase even harder. She finally rejoined some of the leaders with two laps remaining, reeling in Van Passen and Kupefernagel. However Vos and Van den Brand had already pushed on ahead and would fight it out for the win between them, with the verdict going to the former.
Compton kept pushing onwards and dropped Kupfernagel to net that third place, 41 seconds back, while Van Passen came home in fifth. Czech Republich rider Pavla Havlikova rounded out the top six.