Ronse victory for de Boer

Dutch rider Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) won the first round of the Bpost Bank Trophy cyclo-cross series in Ronse, Belgium. The win at the GP Mario De Clercq is the first victory for the 23-year-old who turned professional back in 2008.

At the finish line on top of the Hotondberg, de Boer had a bonus of seven seconds on Helen Wyman (Kona). Thanks to the 15 bonus seconds gained at the intermediate sprint Wyman is the first leader of the series. Belgian rider Jolien Verscheuren (Decock Woningbouw Vandekerckhove) was a surprising name in third place.

“I’m extremely happy for myself and the team. I suffered a lot. The running sections were extremely hard and Helen kept putting me under pressure. Still I was confident I could hold on to my lead,” De Boer told Sport.be after her win.

Disaster struck early on when several riders crashed in the first left-hand corner of the race. Among the casualties were Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP), Elle Anderson (Kalas-NNOF), Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Loes Sels. In front, Wyman didn’t wait and the British champion sped away with only Verscheuren and Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) able to keep up.

Bad luck struck Wyman on the slopes of the steep Hotondberg when a chain problem cost her the front position. Harris was the first to pass her compatriot with De Boer and Verscheuren being the first chasers at short distance.

Further back Wyman and Van Loy were coming closer on the mostly dry but extremely demanding course.

With three laps to go, Harris seemed to be heading for the win but another mechanical took out the race leader. A delighted De Boer profited and grabbed her first big win just ahead of Wyman.

Verscheuren claimed third place at 20 seconds back, just like the 24-year-old Belgian did at the final Superprestige round in Middelkerke last season.

Full Results