Cant wins in Oostmalle

Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) performed at a very high level in the final cyclo-cross race of the season. Cant flawlessly manoeuvred through the many sandy corners at the forest of sunny Oostmalle, and grabbed a well-deserved solo victory in the final round of the Bpost Bank cyclo-cross series.

"I didn't prepare in a special way for this race but I live five minutes from the course so I know it well. I found an ideal rhythm and figured I could even do a few more at that pace. I'd love to have raced against Marianne Vos on this course," Cant said.

Loes Sels (Young Telenet-Fidea) surprised with a second place, well ahead of Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team) and Nicki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea).

Thanks to her win in Oostmalle Cant hops over European champion Wyman to the overall win in the series. Before this final round Wyman led the series with a 31 second lead over Cant. "I rate this overall win quite high. I won the series from a world-class rider like Helen Wyman, as she's in the top-3 on the UCI-ranking," Cant said.

Loes Sels got the best start in Oostmalle with Wyman and Cant in third and and fourth place. Cant realized she had to move up quickly. "A fast starter got into second place and I figured she would block everything in the sand section. I don't know what Helen was thinking but she stopped pedaling so I moved up," Cant told Cyclingnews.

As predicted there was a pile-up at the first sand section and Nicki Harris ended up being the biggest victim. "I missed my pedal at the start and nearly crashed. I got caught up in traffic. It's frustrating because I felt so good," Harris told Cyclingnews.

Cant quickly got into a good rhythm on the fast course next to the military runway of Oostmalle. Sels managed to keep up for a little while but she had to let go of Cant when coming back on the finishing straight at the end of the second lap.

Wyman trailed by six seconds after the opening lap but then struggled and lost about half a minute in the second lap. "I had a good start but Sanne went straight past me. She had an incredible day," Wyman said. Halfway into the race Cant virtually had the overall win in the series in her hands.

While Harris started moving up towards fourth place, Wyman kept losing ground on Cant and Sels. The latter remained at short distance until the penultimate lap when the gap grew from six to twenty seconds. In the closing laps Cant cruised to the victory and Sels to a strong second place at half a minute.

Sels made a comeback to the sport after giving birth to two daughters, Josien and Feline. "I'm always good over here. I made it my goal to get on the podium over here as I know I go well through the sand," Sels said.

Wyman joined Cant and Sels on the podium, finishing at 1:35 from Cant. A frustrated Harris finished fourth at short distance from Wyman. Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) was fifth at more than two minutes from Cant, just ahead of Pavla Havlikova (Young Telenet-Fidea).

Emma Johansson (Orica Greenedge) was a surprising name in seventh place at 2:46 from winner Cant. In the overall classification Wyman trails Cant by 1:24 while Harris is third at 2:57. Sophie de Boer (Young Telenet-Fidea) is a distant fourth at 14:18.

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