Sanne Cant makes her way through the sand (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-Beobank) is back to her winning ways. The 26-year-old won twice this weekend. On Saturday she captured her first World Cup win in Zeven, Germany and on Sunday afternoon she won the third round of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy in Hamme, Belgium.
"It's my tenth victory, and that's a great number. I'm happy it worked out today. I didn't expect it because it remained together for so long," Cant told Sporza.
Cant won on a fast course ahead of Dutch riders Maud Kaptheijns (Steylaerts) and world champion Thalita de Jong (Rabo-Liv). De Jong remains the leader in the time-based classification of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy with a gap of 1:46 on Jolien Verschueren (Young Telenet-Fidea), who lost more than a minute in Hamme, finishing eleventh. Cant moves into third place overall at 2:21 from De Jong.
Cant always featured near the front of the race on the fast technical course in Hamme. The pack of riders was stretched out in a long line with Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea), De Jong and Kaptheijns making the best start. Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) and Jolien Verschueren had a poor start and rode outside the top-10. Verschueren kept struggling while De Boer managed to move back up. After the opening lap, De Boer was trailing the front of the race by 15 seconds. At the intermediate sprint during the second of six laps, Cant took 15 bonus seconds, Van Loy grabbed 10 and Kaptheijns the final 5 seconds. A lead group of six riders was formed during the second lap with Cant, Kaptheijns, De Jong, Van Loy, Pavla Havlikova (Kooperativa) and Laura Verdonschot (Kalas-NNOF). In front, the pace was set by Van Loy, but De Boer managed to bridge up during the third lap, creating a lead group of seven riders.
During the fourth lap, Cant accelerated with Van Loy struggling to keep up. De Jong quickly reacted and closed the gap. De Boer also moved to the front as well as De Jong, but none of their actions split the group apart. The seven riders hit the final lap together, and Van Loy won the sprint for the lead position going into the field. Cant quickly took command and gained a few metres on the most technical section. Van Loy was unable to close the gap, and she was passed by Kaptheijns, De Boer and De Jong. De Boer had a mechanical and lost contact with the group. Meanwhile, Cant managed to hold off a comeback from Kaptheijns, taking her first win in the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy.
"It was difficult to create gaps today. It was a technical course but not very difficult. In the final lap, there was a section where I created a gap. It was hard work to hold on to the lead," Cant said.
Kaptheijns finished as runner-up, a great result for her. "This weekend pleased me a lot. My sixth place yesterday was good. This was a tactical race with high speeds. I like that, but tactically I often struggle. Now I manage to get a second place. The difference? I rested very well. I tend to train too much," Kaptheijns told Sporza.
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World champion De Jong was pleased with her third place, after coming back from a competition break before this weekend. "I suffered a lot. The speed was always high and due to the multiple training session I lacked speed in the legs. My heart rate was always high and didn't recover fast. [...] I tried to make as few mistakes as possible. I'm very happy with that. I made a big step," said De Jong.
The next round of the IJsboerke Ladies Trophy is on December 10th in Essen, Belgium.
