Cycling: Sanne Cant celebrated her 100th professional victory in cyclocross today. The world champion from Belgium narrowly prevailed in an exciting three-way battle. In the men's game, Mathieu Van der Poel hit back.
Can't beat today either
Last week Sanne Cant (Beobank-Corendon) suffered a defeat. Today the reigning world champion hit back. She left behind American Katie Compton (Trek) and Italian Eva Lechner (Clif Pro Team). "I am very happy. It didn't work out last week and I wanted to win here today.” It looked like a really close race for a long time – and it stayed that way until the end. Compton was only three seconds behind in second place, another four seconds behind Lechner already crossed the finish line. Only on the last of five laps was 27-year-old Sanne Cant able to make the decisive attack and shake off her remaining pursuers. With her 100th victory in cyclocross, she has finally become a living legend of this sport. Of course, she has also further extended her already huge lead in the World Cup.
Cant wins Heusden-Zolder World Cup | https://t.co/Yt0ejOpj7S pic.twitter.com/e0sv1wCoHP
— Cyclingnews.com (@Cyclingnewsfeed) December 26, 2017
Solo victory after a cold by Van der Poel
In the men's race, Mathieu Van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) got revenge for Namur and Zeven. While world champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) won the last two World Cup races - and was thus able to make the fight for the World Cup exciting again - Van der Poel struck back impressively today. The 22-year-old European Champion hasn't been able to train on his bike for five days, but showed his best side in today's race. Nobody could counter the Dutchman. Even World Champion Wout Van Aert didn't stand a chance. With a lead of 33 seconds, Mathieu Van der Poel was the winner ahead of Laurens Sweeck (ERA-Circus), who even left Wout Van Aert behind in the sprint for second place. The world champion is now separated from the European champion by 90 points in the overall World Cup.
MvdPoel wins a lot of talk in Heusden – zolder!!!! pic.twitter.com/NlF2OQy8cw
— ton van Engelen (@EngelenTon) December 26, 2017