By Susan Westemeyer
20 year-old Steffi Pohl (Team Getränke Hoffman) took the biggest victory of her career to date when she won the mother of all cyclo-cross races in Overijse, Belgium on Sunday. The young German talent outsprinted her Dutch counterpart Saskia Elemans (WV de Meteoor) to win after a tough battle in the testing conditions. Pohl crashed hard during the race while leading on her own, the fall left her bruised and battered but was not enough to stop her from claiming victory.
"It was a pretty hard race," Pohl said. "The ground was frozen hard. I got in to the lead early and built up a lot of space between me and the followers. Then I crashed hard, unfortunately, and hurt my arm, and the others caught up with me. I pulled all my strength together and was able to get away with Elemans. Then I was able to take the sprint."
Belgian, Sanne Cant (ASD Selle Italia Guerciotti), did enough to secure the third step on the podium as she crossed the line six seconds clear of Helen Wyman (Great Britain) while Daphny van den Brand (ZZPR.nl) finishing a further 17 seconds back in fifth.
Torsten Wittig, sports director of Team Getränke Hoffman was pleased with his young charges win. "She was fantastic. Winning this classic shows not only her best form but also Steffi's super self-confidence," he said.
