Thirteenth win for Cant in Hasselt

Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) grabbed her 13th victory of the season at a sunny edition of the GP Hasselt, fourth round of the Bpost Bank Trophy cyclo-cross series. Road world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo-Liv Woman Cycling Team) ended her first cyclo-cross race of the season on a fast and technical course in second place, holding off Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) in the sprint at 13 seconds back from Cant. De Boer remains in the lead of the Bpost Bank Trophy cyclo-cross series.

Ferrand-Prévot drew most attention at the start in Hasselt. The 22-year-old road world champion kicked off her cyclo-cross campaign in the Limburg capital, sporting her tricolor jersey of French cyclo-cross champion. Last year, Cant won the GP Hasselt, beating Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team) in the sprint but that scenario was never repeated.

Wyman struggled in Hasselt while Cant quickly moved up towards fast starters Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea), De Boer and Ferrand-Prévot, Loes Sels (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Pavla Havlikova (Young Telenet-Fidea). Wyman followed at a short distance back. Cant picked up the 15 bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in the second lap, ahead of De Boer and Van Loy. An acceleration from the French champion put Cant and Ferrand-Prévot in the lead halfway the race, holding De Boer and Van Loy at a distance.

De Boer managed to bridge back up to the two leaders and even managed to gap them when hitting the penultimate lap. Ferrand-Prévot and Cant caught De Boer, with Van Loy a little further back. Then Cant put the hammer down. This time Ferrand-Prévot and De Boer seemed unable to close it back down and the European champion steamed away.

When hitting the final lap, Cant had 10 seconds on Ferrand-Prévot and De Boer. Van Loy chased at 20 seconds from the solo leader. Cant managed to bring the victory home while Ferrand-Prévot displayed the fast legs that delivered her the win at the Ponferrada 2014 World Championships. Van Loy was fourth at 25 seconds back. Havlikova was best of the rest at more than a minute from Cant, well ahead of Sels and Wyman.

Elle Anderson (Kalas-NNOF) was the best US rider in 10th place. Despite a front row start position, Caitlin Antonneau (Cannondale) never featured in front and finished in 14th place.

Cant moves into third place of the Bpost Bank Trophy cyclo-cross series after four rounds. De Boer still holds a comfortable lead of 1:33 over Ellen Van Loy. Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) did not start in Hasselt due to a leg injury and drops to seventh place overall.

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