Van Paassen wins in Hamme-Zogge

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Sanne Van Paassen (Rabo-Giant Off-road Team) won the third round of the Hansgrohe Superprestige series in Zogge, Belgium. The Dutch rider held off the surprising strong Pavla Havlikova (Young Telenet-Fidea team) during the final lap of the race.

“Last week was a rest week and every year I become ill in it. Saturday morning I felt like an old lady when I woke up. It pleases me a lot that I was riding pain free today. It’s always nice to win here. It’s a flat course with some corners and stairs, I like it,” Van Paassen, winner of the first Czech World Cup round in Tabor, said.

‘I’ll do some most of the Superprestige races. They fit well into my schedule although it’s too bad they organize their women’s race so early [10:45]. On the other hand, I’ve got a large chunk of my Sunday left.”

During the first part of the six laps race no major gaps were created between the top riders. Local rider Sanne Cant (Veldritacademie Enertherm-BKCP) took the initiative early on and this created a lead group with Van Paassen, Havlikova, Cant, Sabrina Stultiens (Rabo-Giant Off-Road team) and later Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea team).

Cant and Van Paassen tried to create a gap on the rest with Havlikova joining them but the move didn't work as more riders joined the lead group, including Amy Dombroski (Young Telenet-Fidea Team) who had a poor start.

With two laps to go the stairs proved decisive. After a mistake from Harris, Cant moved ahead of her into second position in the group. Cant then misjudged a step and went down with her bike landing on top of her. Van Paassen and Havlikova profited to surge clear.

“It was a big mistake because the two were gone and I never managed to close it back down,” Cant told Cyclingnews. “I felt good early on, even though I was sick for three days this week.”

Up front Van Paassen had the upper hand although it took a while before the Dutch women got rid of her Czech opponent. “It was good to see she was riding near the front today but when I asked her to take a pull she said that she didn’t have anything left,” Van Paassen told Cyclingnews.

During the penultimate lap Van Paassen created a small gap but a pedal problem mean the two were back together. A little later, just before hitting the final lap, Van Paassen opened the gas again and it proved to be the decisive move. Van Paassen went on to easily take her fourth win of the season ahead of Havlikova. Cant won the battle for third place ahead of Harris and Stultiens at half a minute from Van Paassen.

“Apart from the World Cup races it’s only the second time this season I didn’t crack the podium. I tried my best. I had trouble clipping in my pedal but in the end I was absolutely dead. Yesterday [Niel] was one of the heaviest course this season,” Harris told Cyclingnews after her fourth place.

Amy Dombroski's eighth place didn’t reflect her good race. She finished only a minute behind the winner and was a minute clear of the rider in ninth place. The American enjoyed her ride in Zogge.

“I felt like a bike racer again, not like in the previous races. I tried to peak for the Czech World Cups and I’ve been training hard since that. I’m getting stronger,” Dombroski explained at the finish in Zogge.