Vos back to winning in Zolder World Cup

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Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv) sprinted to victory in the Heusden-Zolder women’s World Cup race. The reigning world champion held off a chase by Katerina Nash (Luna Women’s Pro Cycling) and teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot to win.

Vos and Prévot escaped early on with the Dutchwoman dropping her French teammate soon after. Nash missed the initial move and was the only member of a chasing group to catch the dropped Prévot. In a dramatic twist, Vos suffered a flat tyre on the penultimate lap, allowing the two to catch her, but she had enough in her reserves to attack one last time on an uphill section and powered to victory.

“I didn’t hope that it was so exciting but in the end it was a very exciting race for the spectators. I had a flat tyre but luckily I was able to change bikes,” Vos said after the race.

“I tried to attack earlier on and then Katerina Nash passed me on the uphill but on the final uphill I wanted to be in front. We came next to each other so we were very close. I was already happy with the second place in Namur but of course it is great to have a win in the World Cup.”

Sanne Cant has extended her lead in the World Cup standings after a bad day for Katie Compton, who failed to finish the race. The European champion is now back into a comfortable 29 points lead over Compton in the World Cup classification.

Vos took charge early in the race, dropping teammate Ferrand-Prévot at the end of the opening lap and started into what looked to be a long solo ride. A chase group with Cant, Eva Lechner (Rusvelo), Sabine Stultiens, Nash and Compton was already trailing by more than half a minute. While Ferrand-Prévot kept losing ground on Vos the rest was staying at more or less the same distance in the second lap.

At the end of the second lap Nash attacked the chase group and powered towards Ferrand-Prévot. Stultiens kept the duo in sight while Cant's chances were lost when she broke a spoke.

The first chasing duo seemed to be battling for second place but suddenly they had Vos back in sight, after the world champion suffered her flat tyre, when hitting the final lap. The three leaders hit the final lap with Stultiens at short distance though the young Dutch rider was never able to close the gap.

Nash wanted to get into the lead position but at a 180 degrees corner Ferrand-Prévot body-checked her onto the ground. "It was my own fault, you should always protect the inside corner. This is the danger when you take the outside of the curve," Nash said. Nevertheless Nash managed to sneak to the front position and put both Vos and Ferrand-Prévot on the defensive.

Just before the final climb Nash slid out when running a section. Vos profited and hit the final climb in front. Nash and Ferrand-Prévot were never able to get back on Vos’ wheel, and she was able to delight in the victory. Nash held off Ferrand-Prévot for second place at a handful of seconds from Vos.

Stultiens was a good fourth at 22 seconds. Lechner rolled in for fifth place at 48 seconds. Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) continues her good run at the World Cup with a sixth place, moving into third place in the general classification. British riders Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team) failed to crack the top 10. The final round of the World Cup is held next month in Hoogerheide, Netherlands.

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