Vandenbulcke surprises with Belgian women's road title

Image 1 of 4

Jesse Vandenbulcke (Doltcini-Van Eyck) is the surprise winner of the Belgian championships on a 120km-long, flat course in Ghent. After three hours of racing, the 23-year-old out-sprinted Ann-Sophie Duyck (Parkhotel) and Julie Van de Velde (Lotto-Soudal) and teammate Mieke Docx.

"Winning the jersey was something that I only thought about in my dreams. I live in Ghent and now I win here. My son turns two in two weeks. It's my first real win, apart of a time-trial victory," Vandenbulcke told Sporza in the post-race flash interview. "I was crying at the finish line and so did my son, Fabian, because he didn't know what was going on. This is the most beautiful thing that could happen."

It was Laura Verdonschot, mainly known from her cyclo-cross performances, who set up the large breakaway group of 12 riders shortly after Walter Godefroot fired the race underway in Ghent. Top favourite Jolien D'Hoore lacked teammates to control the breakaway group and co-favourites Lotte Kopecky and defending champion Annelies Dom had Van de Velde in front.

The breakaway group collected a bonus of four minutes and Vandenbulcke realised that she had a chance to win. During the penultimate lap, only Duyck, Van de Velde, Vandenbulcke and Mieke Docx survived a few accelerations. The four leaders were still more than two minutes ahead of the beaten peloton. A few late attempts to avoid the sprint ended up going nowhere, with Docx keeping the pace high for Vandenbulcke. Already at 500m from the finish line, Vandenbulcke already started her sprint.

She quickly gapped Duyck and Van de Velde but started to struggle in the final metres. Duyck came back to half a bike length from Vandenbulcke who narrowly held on for the win. Alana Castrique (Lotto-Soudal) finished solo ahead of the first chase group to grab the Women Under 23 title. Defending champion Dom won the sprint of the main chase group for sixth place.

Results