Kaptheijns wins Superprestige Niels Albert

Maud Kaptheijns (Crelan-Charles) continued her winning ways at the third round of the Superprestige Ladies Trophy in Boom. She beat World Champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) by one second in a sprint finish, while 11 seconds back Annemarie Worst (Era-Circus) completed the podium.

The largely grassy course was a big change from last week's sandy outing, but once again the opening laps provided a familiar scenario, with Kaptheijns seeking to take control by heading to the front right away.

Other frontrunners were wise to the same actions which had seen Kaptheijns ride away after fast starts, and it was Worst who went away on lap one, hoping to prevent a repeat of the first two rounds. An elite chase group, consisting of Cant, Kaptheijns and Ellen Van Loy (Telenet-Fidea Lions) soon established themselves, eventually catching Worst on lap three.

With the four back together, Van Loy wasted no time in taking the initiative, putting in a dig of her own on the short sandy sections at the end of the same lap.

Despite this show of strength from the Belgian, Van Loy was the first to drop. After her half lap in front, she was caught, and fell to the back of the group before dropping for good on the penultimate lap.

On the final lap of the race, Worst finally ceded ground to her companions, unable to prevent Cant and Kaptheijns from getting a gap during the sand sections and stair climb towards the end of the lap.

While Cant may have been expected to take control on those same sections, it was actually Kaptheijns who looked stronger, at one point riding through the sand while Cant stopped to carry her bike.

In the end, the eye test proved to be right, with Kaptheijns leading Cant around the final corner. Cant sprinted for the line but just couldn't get out of the slipstream of her competitor, who held her position quite comfortably to make it three wins out of three in the Superprestige.

Brit Nikki Brammeier (Boels-Dolmans), who scored an impressive third place at the previous round in Zonhoven, was forced to abandon with ill health.

Results