Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Enertherm-Beobank) claimed the first World Cup round in Germany in more than a decade on Saturday. The 26 year-old managed to drop American champ Katie Compton (KFC Racing) in the final lap of the race and rode on to take the victory in Zeven. It was the first World Cup win of the season for Cant.
"In Belgium I often hear after a win that this or that rider is missing. Now they're all here. I'm first on the UCI ranking and today I've proven to be worthy of that," Cant said.
After the second of six laps on the fast and twisting course in the "Hinter der Ahe" forest there were still ten riders riding within ten seconds of each other. World champion Thalita de Jong (Rabo-Liv) and World Cup leader Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) led early, but Cant brought the rest of the field back on their wheels. The large group also included slow starter Katie Compton, Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea), Pavla Havlikova (Kooperativa), Maud Kaptheijns, Alice Maria Arzuffi (Selle Italia - Guerciotti), Laura Verdonschot (Kalas-NNOF) and U23 World Cup leader Ellen Noble (Rapha-Focus). Halfway through the third lap Cant took over the command from compatriot Van Loy, and then she opened up a gap. Behind Van Loy there was a gap to the rest of the field as well, as De Boer got stuck into the course wiring.
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"I made a mistake and then they rode away while I was stuck in the wiring. Sanne played it well. I wasn't good enough today, especially technically. It was more slippery than I expected. The corners had to be taken at high speed and that wasn't in my favour," de Boer told Telenet Play Sports TV.
Meanwhile Compton was moving up in the group, trying to bounce back from her poor start. With two laps to go Cant was leading the race with Van Loy and Compton trailing her by seven seconds. World champion de Jong came back from a short break and found herself in a group with Arzuffi, de Boer and Kaptheijns at 11 seconds.
During the penultimate lap Van Loy dropped back into the large chase group. At the long sand section both Cant and Compton were riding smoothly. In the background, Kaptheijns, Verdonschot, Havlikova and Noble were losing time in the sand. Compton managed to bridge up with Cant when the Belgian lost traction on a short steep climb. Cant offered the lead to Compton, who decided to keep the pace up while chasers Van Loy, De Jong and De Boer were trailing by no more than 11 seconds. Compton set a fast pace on the course but she was unable to shake off Cant, who seemed more or less comfortable on her wheel.
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