Kim De Baat surprises with sprint victory at Belgian Road Championships

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Kim De Baat (Plantur Pura) secured a surprise sprint victory to win the women's road race title at the Belgian championships in Middelkerke. 

De Baat went up against a small group that had split off the front of the main field in the closing kilometres to win the sprint ahead of Fien Van Eynde (IBCT) in second and Sara Maes (Multum Accountants Ladies Cycling Team) in third. 

Pre-race favourite Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) finished in the main field in 51st place.

An early breakaway emerged in the women's 120km race that included Cato Cassiers, Marion Norbert-Riberolle (Plantur Pura), Britt Knaven (AG Insurance-NXTG Team) and Sara van de Vel (IBCT). 

Nathalie Bex (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire-Van Eyck Sport) and De Baat briefly joined the breakaway but the move was short lived and the peloton back together toward the end of the race.

Kopecky attempted to launch her own attack, followed by Sanne Cant (Plantur Pura) but they were not successful in opening a gap. 

The move that ended up splitting off the front involved De Baat, Maes, Van Eynde along with Fauve Bastiaenssen, Lone Meertens (AG Insurance-NXTG Team), Julie Hendrickx (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire-Van Eyck Sport), and Alana Castrique (Cofidis Women Team), who bridged the small gap inside the last kilometre.

Castrique was the first of the group to start the sprint but it was De Baat who proved fastest crossing the line to win her first elite women's road race title.

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