Cant wins Superprestige opener in Gieten

Gieten was host to the opening round of the 2015-2016 Superprestige cyclo-cross series. The sand course in the north of the Netherlands was an ideal course for European and Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP). She rode away from the opposition in the opening lap and completed a long solo ride in the north of the Netherlands. British rider Nikki Harris was runner-up ahead of Jolien Verschueren.

“I’m delighted with my first win of the season,” Cant said. “I wanted to make the difference straight from the start and that worked out pretty well. Riding the whole race at full gas is a good training. For a moment it seemed like Harris was keeping the pressure on me but I was keeping the race under control. It was difficult to ride in the sand as there was no path. For the chasers that was a bonus.”

The win puts Cant into the lead position of the Superprestige series. For the first time in its history there’s an overall ranking for the women in this prestigious cyclo-cross series with the Gieten event being the only one race outside cyclo-cross-crazy Belgium. The best six results in the eight Superprestige events are taken into account for the €10,000 prize money at stake.

Nobody was able to keep up with sand specialist Cant in Gieten. By the end of the opening lap Nikki Harris was unable to ride through the sand and Cant was gone. The chase group behind Cant existed of Harris and Sanne van Paassen (Boels-Dolmans).

Cant had no trouble to clinch the victory ahead of Harris, who quickly dropped her Dutch rival. Van Paassen lost a lot of ground in the second half of the race, making the battle for third place an entertaining one. In the final part of the race Jolien Verschueren blasted by several riders. The good finish of the light Belgian rider resulted in a strong third place in Gieten.

Harris held on to second place. Jolien Verschueren managed the last podium spot. Ellen Van Loy was fourth ahead of Maud Kaptheijns and sand specialist Loes Sels. Sanne van Paassen was unable to repeat her strong CrossVegas performance, only managing a seventh place. Helen Wyman was eighth ahead of Femke Van Den Driessche and Yara Kastelijn. 

Brief Results