Cant crushes World Cup

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European and Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) crushed her rivals at the inaugural UCI World Cup round in Lignières, France. The 25-year-old completed a long solo effort to win ahead of compatriot Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Italian champion Eva Lechner (Luna Pro Team). Cant extended her lead in the World Cup standings over Lechner to 32 points.

“It wasn’t my best feeling. I had a good race. I just rode on my own so I didn’t have mistakes. It was a nice course. I’m happy that I could win. If I can train two more weeks really well, then maybe I can win in Zolder. I've worked the whole year for that. I hope I can win,” Cant said.

Cant got off to a great start, just behind Van Loy who managed the hole shot onto the fast, twisting course in the heart of France. Lechner briefly followed the two Belgian leaders, but once Cant took over the lead from Van Loy gaps started to emerge. By the end of the opening lap, Cant was three seconds ahead of Van Loy and she clearly wasn’t planning to wait for her. Lechner was trailing Cant by seven seconds, with Pavla Havlikova (MRM-Avalon) marking her wheel.

“I wanted to make the least possible mistakes while riding at the limit for most of the race. It’s been a while since I did that. Ellen rode really fast during the opening lap. Then I took a pull. It’s too bad Ellen wasn’t able to keep up. It would’ve been a good race with the two of us,” Cant told Telenet Play Sports.

The situation in front seemed decided as Cant kept riding away from Van Loy. Halfway through the second of five laps Lechner managed to ride away from Havlikova, but kept losing ground on the two Belgian riders in front. Havlikova faded back to a group featuring Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF), Caroline Mani (Raleigh-Clément), Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team), and Kaitlon Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com).

In the two final laps Cant cruised to a very convincing win, taking off her sunglasses before crossing the finish line, and cleaning off her white World Cup jersey which only showed a few mud spots. Lechner was closing in on Van Loy but the latter had something left in her tank for the final lap and held off the Italian rider. Van Loy clinched her fist multiple times as she captured a well-deserved second place. Lechner was third.

The home crowd was able to celebrate as fresh French champion Caroline Mani was able to win the battle for fourth place. She was high-fiving with her compatriots at the side of the road after reaching the finish. Kaitlin Antonneau was fifth, well ahead of De Boer, Wyman and Havlikova. Joyce Vanderbeken was a surprising ninth, just ahead of new British champion Nikki Harris (Boels Dolmans).

In the World Cup standings Cant now holds 282 points and Lechner 250 with only next week’s final World Cup round in Hoogerheide, Netherlands left to race. Van Loy moves up from fifth to third place with 205 points. Harris remains fourth with 184 points, which is 11 more than US champion Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective).

Compton was unable to profit from her front-row start position and quickly dropped out of the top 10. A crash in the second lap didn’t help, and she went on to finish on place 33 at 4:35 from winner Cant. She dropped from third to fifth in the World Cup standings. Husband Mark Legg sent a tweet during the race, stating that Compton was sick.

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