De Boer wins in Ruddervoorde

Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) won the third round of the Superprestige Ladies Trophy in Ruddervoorde, Belgium.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, the Dutch rider excelled on the technical course, winning solo ahead of Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Beobank-Corendon) and Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea). The USA's Elle Anderson finished seventh at 1:50. 

It was De Boer’s first ever win in the important Superprestige series.

“I felt good at the start. I quickly had a gap and figured I had to keep going. This was a course that suits me well. Also, I didn’t race yesterday at Waaslandcross which allowed me to be fresher. I had to work for it, of course,” De Boer explained.

Halfway the race Cant lost a lot of time, because of what turned out to be a back problem.

“I’ve never had it before. It hurt a lot,” Cant said. She remains leader in the Superprestige Ladies Trophy after three rounds.

Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) managed to take the hole shot after the fast start in Ruddervoorde but she was soon overtaken by Ellen Van Loy. The veteran set a good pace over the countless artificial obstacles which criss-crossed the Ruddervoorde field. Only Majerus, Cant and De Boer were able to stay in touch with her.

On the final part of the first lap De Boer took command and Majerus faded back. During the second lap both Van Loy and Cant were unable to keep up with De Boer. When hitting the third of five laps De Boer had a lead of six seconds over Cant and Van Loy. Majerus was fourth at half a minute. The race had a shape. Cant clearly wasn’t going too well and by the end of the fourth lap she was caught by Van Loy but the Belgian duo was forty seconds down on lone leader De Boer.

On the final lap De Boer made no mistakes and cruised to a deserved victory. Van Loy slipped away halfway round the final lap, offering second place to Cant.

“I bridged up with Sanne and saw she was struggling with her back. I hoped to gap her but then I slipped away and lost contact with her,” Van Loy told Cyclingnews.

In the general classification of the season-long Superprestige series, Cant now leads with 44 points. Van Loy moves into second place overall with 33 points. Kalas-NNOF-riders Laura Verdonschot and Sophie de Boer are third and fourth with respectively 31 and 28 points.

Nikki Brammeier (Boels-Dolmans) is out injured and drops to fifth overall with 24 points. Only the best 6 races are taken into account for the general classification, with the final two rounds offering double points.

“The Superprestige series become interesting for me because not all rounds are taken into account. I’m leading in the World Cup standings though and it remains a priority,” De Boer said.

The next round of the Superprestige series is held next week in Gavere.

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