Sanne Cant: “Every time I could ride uphill, I gained four to five seconds”
“Whether I was able to enjoy it as I said I wanted to do in advance? In itself yes, but I am disappointed about the tumble in the stream,” Cant began her account of the competition. “I had a nice lead and was able to ride my race, until I suddenly found myself lying there. I always drove on the left in that lane, but that lap I drove on the right. I ended up in a deep rut and got stuck behind a post with my brake lever and almost fell over the fence into the stream. It took a while before I could get my brake lever out of the thread and so it suddenly became exciting. ”
“Then I had to think about how I would approach it. Laura (Verdonschot, ed.) got wings, because her morale may have gone a bit when I had a twenty second lead. But I had a plan in my head and it turned out well.”
That plan seemed mainly focused on the hill at the beginning of the lap, where Cant could ride up and Verdonschot had to keep walking. “Laura rode on Grifos (a less heavy tire profile than Cant, ed.) and I had more grip on that hill, so I could take advantage of that. Every time I could go up, I gained four to five seconds.”
Before the start, Cant said that this would probably be her last BC and she now explained that decision in more detail. “In my mind this is my last BC, I will probably stop cycling at the end of next season. So I’ll do another road season and then a cyclo-cross season and then my contract will expire. I feel like the end has come. I could participate in the Belgian Championships again at the end of that cyclo-cross season (early 2025, ed.), but I will stop a month later and it would be a shame to only be able to wear that jersey for a month, if I did too. then of course become Belgian champion. Fifteen also sounds better than sixteen and is easier to remember,” Cant concluded with a wink.
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Sanne Cant with the tricolor and the gold medal. — © BELGA
Laura Verdonschot: “Next year will be said to be without Sanne”
As great was the joy for Cant, so great was the disappointment for Verdonschot, who had to be satisfied with second place. “Disappointment is predominant now, that’s normal, I think. I didn’t have the feeling in my legs that I had the past few weeks. But it wasn’t an easy round either, maybe that was the reason.”
“After Sanne’s fall, I had the feeling that I was getting back on track and that I was not inferior to her. She put pressure on me, but I kept coming back. At the beginning of the race I rode grifos, then I switched to rhinos. That went a little better.”
Did that tire choice play a crucial role? On the toughest hill of the course, Cant rode up every lap, while Verdonschot had to walk every time and thus lost valuable time. “Not really, because the last two laps I also rode rhinos and I couldn’t get to the top. It was the technique that took over and perhaps also the strength that Sanne has more than me. But I did make up for lost time, which means that I was certainly not inferior to her on the other parts.”
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© BELGIUM
Verdonschot indeed fought back to Cant’s wheel in the last lap, but then the extremely difficult task of beating Cant awaited her. “I know that going to the finish with Sanne is dangerous and that was clear again today. It almost becomes a frustration, but lost is lost,” is how Verdonschot expresses disappointment. “I knew I wasn’t allowed to go to the finish with Sanne because I knew I would have been beaten, but I couldn’t get away from it.”
Was it a mistake to start the sprint on the track in second position? Anyone who still has to pass must make extra meters or do it in the last straight line of barely fifty meters. “I thought it was still long on the slopes, so if you were really faster, you could still get over it. But Sanne is faster than me, I am more explosive but I can’t last that long.”
And so, just like in 2020 and 2017, Verdonschot won silver, twice after Cant, who has no fewer than fifteen Belgian titles to his name. “It’s frustrating because I had hoped to win that title, especially this year. But Sanne rode much faster today than the previous races and I was at the same level or slightly less than the previous races. But I have to accept it. Next year then? I’m cool with that. Then it will be said that it is without Sanne. It would have been nicer if I could have beaten her for the Belgian title,” said Verdonschot.
Cant tried to console Verdonschot afterwards. — © BELGA
