Lucinda Brand through the sand at Superprestige Ruddervoorde 2021(Image credit: Getty Images)
Denise Betsema runs through the sand stretch at Superprestige Ruddervoorde 2021(Image credit: Getty Images)
Denise Betsema(Image credit: Getty Images)
Fans line the circuit at Superprestige Ruddervoorde 2021(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ellen van Loy racing at Superprestige Ruddervoorde 2021(Image credit: Getty Images)
Zoe Backstedt racing in the top-10 at Superprestige Ruddervoorde 2021(Image credit: Getty Images)
Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) took her third victory of the season in the Superprestige round at Ruddervoorde.
The 28-year-old, from Belgium, led from the opening lap on the largely hard and fast ground and gapped Inge Van der Heijden (777) by the midway point before riding to victory.
After finishing second in the opening round of the Superprestige series in Gieten earlier this month Betsema also took the series lead.
"I had a good rhythm from the start," Betsema said after the race. "After that I was able to ride the race at my own pace. I was not bothered by other riders' mistakes and that is an advantage. I felt good.
"I first had to recover from the start. Then I could ride my own lines. It was hard and mistakes were made, also by me. But I think everyone suffered from that. It was slippery with a lot of mud, but it was a nice race."
Annemarie Worst (777) recovered from a first lap crash on a muddy banking to catch fading team-mate Van der Heijden before taking second with the fellow 777 rider in third.
Meanwhile, world champion Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) failed to challenge the leaders finishing fifth one minute and 52 seconds behind.
How it unfolded
Racing returned to Belgium for the second round of the Superprestige series ahead of Sunday’s World Cup round at Zonhoven.
In dry and fast conditions, it was Sanne Cant (IKO-Crelan) who led the field away on the opening switch backs and taking a small margin after the first technical section of the course.
Leading the charge back to the Belgium champion was Annemarie Worst (777) who got stuck on a steep mound also holding up some of her rivals.
Inge van der Heijden (777) took advantage, and the duo were joined by Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) at the head of proceedings on the opening lap with 14-second gap to the chasers.
Betsema pushed the pace at the start of the second lap and put Cant under pressure who made a mistake on a tricky off-camber section of the course and would not see the front again.
Only 22-year-old, Van der Heijden was able to live with the pace of Betsema who was enforcing her accustom fast start strategy.
Meanwhile, opening round winner and world champion Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) sat in seventh and 36 seconds behind the leading trio after two laps were completed.
At the midway point, Betsema made her attack for victory putting her younger rival under pressure on the hard grassy surface and pulling out a five-second gap.
Behind Cant was joined by Worst in the battle for third place with Brand chasing alone in fifth place further 20 seconds behind but she was also having trouble on the muddy banks.
Using her strength and skills on a technical section Worst joined team-mate Van der Heijden 23 seconds back with two laps remaining while Cant was alone in fourth.
On the same section of course in which she gapped Cant on the previous lap Worst again showed her skills to distance her team-mate.
With a lap remaining Betsema led by 25 seconds from Worst with Van der Heijden at 38 seconds and Cant some 58 seconds back.
After using her skills to good effect on the muddy off-camber section Worst crashed a few times on the last lap but held on to her second-place finish.
Betsema finished 42 seconds ahead of Worst with Van der Heijden 58 seconds back and Cant at 1:13.
World champion Brand had a tough afternoon and finished fifth 1-52 back from the winner ahead of Sunday’s World Cup round at Zonhoven.
The Superprestige series continues with round three in Niel on November 11.
