ANTWERP, Belgium—Not discouraged by a slow start, Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) picked her way through the field at the fifth BPost Bank Trofee race of the year, Scheldecross, to escape late for the win.
A departure from last week’s wet racing, the track at Scheldecross featured long sand stretches, but was otherwise relatively dry and wide open.
Pavla Havlikova (MRM-Avalon) set the pace early, grabbing the holeshot. Behind Havlikova, Telenet-Fidea’s Ellen van Loy and Nikki Harris joined forces to form a chase group, quickly cutting into Havlikova’s advantage.
The chase group quickly absorbed Havlikova and the lead group was formed, containing: Havlikova, van Loy, Cant, Harris, Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF) and Helen Wyman (Kona Factory).
Not content to sit in the group, Wyman attacked, and Cant saw this as an opportunity to gain ground on the chase, bridging up to the Brit and overtaking her on the fourth lap.
Cant would build on her advantage, briefly. Wyman still had some gas left in the tank, and was able to fight her way back to Cant’s wheel, eventually passing her and holding on to the lead until the seventh lap.
Cant’s sheer power eventually reigned supreme, as she once and for all passed Wyman, built on her gap in the sand and crossed the line with the win eight seconds ahead. De Boer rolled through in third place 20 seconds behind the winner’s pace.
Check out our Scheldecross Elite Men’s report to read about Wout van Aert’s 14th win of the year.
BPost Bank Trofee Scheldecross Elite Women's Results
| Place | Name | Country | Age | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CANT Sanne | BEL | 25 | 45:27:00 | |
| 2 | WYMAN Helen | GBR | 34 | 45:35:00 | 0:08 |
| 3 | DE BOER Sophie | NED | 25 | 45:47:00 | 0:20 |
| 4 | KAPTHEIJNS Maud | NED | 21 | 45:58:00 | 0:31 |
| 5 | HARRIS Nikki | GBR | 29 | 46:02:00 | 0:35 |
| 6 | VAN LOY Ellen | BEL | 35 | 46:17:00 | 0:50 |
| 7 | VERSCHUEREN Jolien | BEL | 25 | 46:43:00 | 1:16 |
| 8 | HAVLIKOVA Pavla | CZE | 32 | 47:07:00 | 1:40 |
| 9 | SELS Loes | BEL | 30 | 47:10:00 | 1:43 |
| 10 | VERHESTRAETEN Karen | BEL | 24 | 48:40:00 | 3:13 |
| 11 | VERDONSCHOT Laura | BEL | 19 | 49:03:00 | 3:36 |
| 12 | VAN DEN HOEK Bianca | NED | 39 | 49:11:00 | 3:44 |
| 13 | MAES Shana | BEL | 20 | 49:29:00 | 4:02 |
| 14 | BRAND Lucinda | NED | 26 | 50:49:00 | 5:22 |
| 15 | NAGENGAST Fleur | NED | 17 | 50:55:00 | 5:28 |
| 16 | SWINKELS Karlijn | NED | 17 | 51:17:00 | 5:50 |
| 17 | BOSCHKER Julia | NED | 16 | 52:03:00 | 6:36 |
