Cant takes fourth straight Superprestige victory in Gavere

Belgian and European champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) continues to dominate the Superprestige with a fourth win in four races. Cant won the cyclo-cross classic in Gavere ahead of compatriot Jolien Verschueren (Young Telenet-Fidea) and British rider Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea).

“Much better isn’t possible. I really wanted to win here today as this is one of the classics,” Cant told Sporza. Overnight rain added mud to the already demanding course around the Grenier castle in Gavere. It was the perfect terrain for Cant to display her technical skills. “I made very few mistakes. Sometimes I was close to a crash but I always managed to recover. I enjoyed it a lot. It was slippery but this is cross,” Cant said.

In the Superprestige standings Cant holds the maximum of 60 points. Verschueren is second with 53 points. Wyman and Harris share third place with 41 points.

Five laps were to be covered in the Women’s race. Unsurprisingly Verschueren didn’t get away well, riding outside the top fifteen while Cant featured near the front with Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Luxembourg champion Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans). Co-leaders Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) and Sanne van Paassen (Team Bioteaful) crashed during the infamous Gavere descent.

At the end of the opening lap Majerus got stuck in the mud and she had to let go of Cant and Van Loy. Majerus trailed the two leaders by three seconds after the opening lap. Harris was fourth at 10 seconds. A small group with Verschueren, Wyman (Kona Factory Team) and Van Paasen trailed at 17 seconds.

Early on in the second lap Cant took over the command on a climbing section and she was soon clear of the field. In the background Verschueren blasted by everybody to take second place at the end of the second lap. Harris moved into fourth place when she passed Majerus. A little bit of patience might have made the work into the headwind easier for Verschueren as three Young Telenet-Fidea riders were riding within ten seconds of each other. Verschueren rode at the same pace of Cant on the second lap, trailing her by 17 seconds. She was followed by Van Loy and Harris. Sanne van Paassen and Wyman were battling for sixth place.

Harris passed Van Loy halfway through the race and from there the order of the podium positions was decided. Verschueren came back to within15 seconds of the leader but in the closing laps she didn’t come any closer.

“I think I made a lot of progress. Last year I was fourth, now two spots better. Hopefully I can win here one day. I received a lot of support. I’m from this area and a lot of people supported me. I’m grateful for that. They screamed me forward. I had a bad first lap so Cant had a big gap. I closed it a little bit but not enough to threaten her. I hoped to close it if she made a mistake or had problems. I kept going for it but it wasn’t possible,” Verschueren told Sporza.

Cant never panicked and gained a few seconds on the descent. Verschueren was faster on the climb back to the Grenier castle. “I heard it. I kept an eye on it to adapt my pace a bit to it. This is a race where you have to ride your own pace from start to finish. That worked out well for me.”

Cant won with a bonus of 19 seconds on Verschueren. Harris finished just over a minute behind Cant. Van Loy was fourth at more than two minutes, well ahead of Wyman who held off Van Paassen.

The next round of the Superprestige series is held at the F1 car racing circuit of Spa-Francorchamps on December 13.

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