Cant nabs fourth straight IJsboerke Ladies Trophy win at Azencross

Belgian champion Sanne Cant (IKO Enertherm-Beobank) won the sixth round of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy in Loenhout, Belgium on Thursday. Cant finished solo ahead of Rabo-Liv riders Marianne Vos and world champion Thalita de Jong. The latter remains leader in the time-based classification of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy by 46 seconds.

"I'm not focused on the classification and prefer to win here than to win the series. There's still two rounds left to race and in Baal there are often big gaps," Cant told Sporza.

De Jong lost significant ground during the second of five laps when she slipped away and dropped her chain. "It's a pity. I felt really good and during the race I realized I was very strong. [...] After my crash it was no longer possible to take seconds at the intermediate sprint. You try to control the damages but it's tough," she said.

De Jong featured up front straight from the start, riding just behind Rabo-Liv teammate Lucinda Brand. Cant was right on their heels but failed to hold their wheels during the opening lap. Thanks to her World Cup victory in Heusden-Zolder, Marianne Vos no longer is a back-row starter. She quickly featured in the top 10 but lacked the energy to move up. "I wasn't able to move along with the leaders and the gap quickly increased. I just didn't ride fast enough. I didn't feel as good as in Zolder. That's okay once in a while," Vos told Sporza.

Brand rode a blistering pace up front on the fast course, first dropping Cant and later also De Jong. After the opening lap, Brand had a bonus of 11 seconds on Cant and De Jong. Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea), Laura Verdonschot (Kalas-NNOF) and Vos were trailing Brand by 17 seconds.

The first part of the course in Loenhout was muddy and the Rabo-Liv riders up front struggled with that section during the second lap. First it was Brand who slipped away in one of the first corners. A few moments later De Jong crashed as well, dropping her chain and losing a lot of time.

Cant had a golden opportunity to pass Brand. At the intermediate sprint Cant picked up 15 bonus seconds, Brand grabbed 10, and Ellen Van Loy five. De Jong was chasing at 14 seconds from Cant and Brand. The two leaders worked well together and after two laps they had a bonus of 11 seconds on De Jong, Vos, Van Loy and Verdonschot.

Halfway through the race Cant, accelerated in the mud. Brand quickly faded and she was caught by the four chasers. At that moment in the race, Vos seemed unlikely to factor. When hitting the penultimate, lap De Jong, Verdonschot and Brand were not getting much closer, trailing Cant by 12 seconds. Vos and Van Loy were a few seconds further back.

Then, De Jong found a second wind. The world champion dropped the other chasers and came back to within five seconds from Cant when hitting the final lap, with Vos, Brand and Verdonschot still at the same distance from the leader. Van Loy sat further back in sixth.

In the final lap Cant was under pressure as De Jong was seemingly on fire and on her way to the front. However, a few moments later De Jong's momentum was gone when she made a few minor technical mistakes. Suddenly she found herself back in the group with Brand, Vos and Verdonschot at long distance from Cant.

The latter easily held on for the win. In the battle for the two remaining podium spots Brand was the first to sit up, just before the finishing straight. De Jong went from far out with Vos and Verdonschot on her wheel. Vos proved to have something left in her tank and easily beat De Jong in the sprint for second, with Verdonschot a distant fourth.

"It was only in the final lap that I got going. It was just in time for a podium result," Vos said.

In the time-based overall classification Cant made up a 21 seconds on leader De Jong. The gap is now 46 seconds. Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) was a non-starter in Loenhout but she's still in third place overall, at 6:18.

The penultimate round of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy is held on New Year's Day in Baal, Belgium.

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