Jolien D'hoore wins fourth Belgian road race title

Top favourite Jolien D'hoore (Wiggle-High5) captured her fourth Belgian title in Antwerp on Sunday. D'hoore won the bunch sprint ahead of Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal) and Kelly Druyts (Sport Vlaanderen-Guill d'Or).

The women raced six laps of 17 kilometres on Sunday morning, totaling 102 kilometres. The twisting course was mostly flat, with two pavé sections the key obstacles.

The 1000-metre stretch of cobbles of the D'Herbouvillekaai featured first. Next up was the 450-metre section along the Schelde river, on the Waalse Kaai. During the opening lap the favourites accelerated straight away on the first passage of the cobbles. Jolien D'hoore, Lotte Kopecky, Ann-Sophie Duyck and Valerie Demey (Sport Vlaanderen-Guill d'Or) formed the first breakaway group.

It was too early for these women to go the distance and two riders took over in front: Demmy Druyts (Sport Vlaanderen-Guill d'Or) and Isabelle Beckers (Lotto-Soudal), the runner-up at the TT nationals from last week. The two leaders collected a bonus of 1:20 after two laps of racing.

Halfway through the race the peloton was back on their heels, keeping them in sight at less than half a minute. Cyclo-cross world champion Sanne Cant (IKO Enertherm-Beobank) tried to bridge up to the leaders during the fourth lap. Cant didn't get much space and was caught back.

On the cobbles of the Waalse Kaai the two leaders were caught back as well. With two laps to go, there were several attacks in the peloton. Nathalie Verschelden (Lensworld-Kuota) put in a big move and she collected half a minute. Lotte Kopecky launched a counter-attack but she failed to close the gap. When hitting the final lap both Kopecky and Verschelden were caught back. Several attacks followed, featuring Jessy Druyts (Sport Vlaanderen-Guill d'Or) and Sanne Cant, but nobody received enough of a bonus from the small peloton of about thirty riders.

On the final passage of the cobbles, defending champion Kaat Hannes (Lensworld-Kuota) attacked. Hannes was caught back too and a bunch sprint was unavoidable. Kopecky started the sprint at 150 metres from the finish but D'hoore seemingly easily passed her to grab the win. Sanne Cant fell just short of the podium, finishing in fourth place.

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