Flawless solo win for Cant

One day after grabbing the European Championship title in Lorsch, Germany, in-form Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) added another win to her tally. Cant gapped British champion Helen Wyman (Kona) and Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) in the first lap of the race in Ruddervoorde, Belgium. For six laps Cant cruised around on the meadow course and easily brought the win home at the Hansgrohe Superprestige race.

“I’m pleasantly surprised I can bring two wins home in one weekend. I didn’t plan to get away so early but once there I figured I could try to see how long I held on to it, and make a good training ride out of it,” Cant told Cyclingnews after grabbing her seventh win of the season.

Behind the 24-year-old Wyman and Van Loy tried to stay in touch but instead they kept losing ground. Cant was one of the few riders who managed to plow through the long sand section in Ruddervoorde. “She got the gap on the off-camber section where it was tight to make it to the top or not. I made it three times out of six. Ellen couldn’t close it down and me neither,” Wyman said when explaining how Cant got away to Cyclingnews.

Once Cant was gone the battle for second place was a good one to watch. Halfway through the race Van Loy briefly took over the lead but eventually it was Wyman who surged forward in the closing laps. “It was a good battle. I made the gap in the sand and slowly rode away from her,” Wyman said.

By that time fellow British rider Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) had abandoned the race. Harris finished third at the European championships in Lorsch on Saturday. On Twitter she claimed that two mechanicals and being stuck in her 32 forced her out of the race. Cyclingnews spotted her taking a tumble in the sand section while riding in seventh place when she left the race at the end of the fourth lap. Jolien Verschueren (Decock Woningbouw) and Pavla Havlikova (Young Telenet-Fidea) closed out the top five; all within a minute of winner Cant.

There’s no general classification for the Hansgrohe Superprestige series in the Women’s category.

Full Results