De Boer wins in the Hoogerheide mud

The final round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Hoogerheide, Netherlands turned out to be a sloppy mudfest. It proved to be the perfect terrain for Dutch rider Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF), who rode to her first-ever World Cup victory. The 25-year-old completed the race solo. She finished 35 seconds ahead of Dutch champion Talitha de Jong (RaboLiv Women Cycling Team) and British champion Nikki Harris (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team).

“It’s indescribable. I’m really happy that I could win today. Last week I felt really strong. It’s a course I really like. It’s heavy: a slow course with a lot of mud. I felt really great. It’s incredible I could win,” De Boer said in the post-race flash interview.

Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) briefly featured in front with De Boer and Harris but she struggled hard in the extremely muddy section on a talus at the end of each long lap. She was unable to pose a threat to De Boer but her fifth place was more than enough to secure the overall victory in the World Cup. Cant finished ahead of her last rival Eva Lechner (Luna Pro Team) who finished eighth in the sludge of Hoogerheide.

“I haven’t worked towards these types of courses. This was a power course and that clearly wasn’t my thing. I’ve got this classification in the pocket and I’ll probably win the other two [Superprestige and Bpost Bank Trophy] as well. Next week I don’t have to rescue my season,” Cant told Telenet Play Sports.

De Boer impressed during the opening lap and briefly rode away in the mud. De Jong and Harris were the only riders who managed to bridge back up. Early on in the second of four laps, De Boer once again opened up a gap on the two national champions and this time she continuously extended her lead. “I couldn’t believe it. I had a really good start. I had a little gap but didn’t want to start too fast. The first lap I wasn’t riding 100 per cent. Then I saw after the first lap I still had a gap. Then I gave it all and was able to extend the gap,” De Boer explained on Telenet Play Sports.

Behind De Boer it was clear that 22-year-old De Jong and Harris were each other’s match although Cant was continuously trying to keep the duo in sight. At the end of the third lap De Jong was riding at the edge of the course in the deep-mud section on the talus when she hooked into the barriers with her brake lever. Suddenly Harris was alone in second place at half a minute from De Boer. De Jong didn’t give up and quickly fought back on the uphill road to the finish, trailing 29-year-old Harris by four seconds.

Cant was only five seconds further back. French champion Caroline Mani (Raleigh-Clément) were together in fifth place with Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team) at 55 seconds. Lechner was unable to build on her good start and kept losing ground in the mud. She was more than a minute behind De Boer with a vivid Jolien Verschueren (Young Telenet-Fidea).

In the final lap De Boer went even faster than she already did and she managed a more than deserved first World Cup victory after a difficult start to the season due to illness. De Jong quickly bridged back up with Harris. Cant faded back and the Belgian champion suddenly had Mani on her wheel.

The battle for second place was a close one with Harris opting to stay on the wheel of De Jong for most of the final lap. Just before hitting the uphill finishing straight De Jong had a gap and with a very powerful sprint she held off the return of Harris. Mani rode away from Cant and took fourth place. Verschueren continued her comeback race and overtook Wyman at the end of the race, finishing sixth. Lechner rode alone in eighth place, well ahead of Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans Womencyclingteam) and Sabrina Stultiens (Team Liv-Plantur).

Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) lost her third spot in the World Cup standings to Harris as she only managed an eleventh place in Hoogerheide. She was unable to fight back after Maud Kaptheijns blocked her path early on in the opening lap. Just like in the World Cup standings US-champion Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) finished right behind Van Loy.

Compton had a disastrous start in Hoogerheide, missing her pedal which was extremely costly on the uphill start. Compton finished fifth in the World Cup and 12th in Hoogerheide. Sophie de Boer had a poor start to World Cup season in CrossVegas, finishing 25th. She skipped the Valkenburg World Cup round in her home country to recover. During the five following World Cup rounds she cracked the top 10, with Hoogerheide as icing on the cake.

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