Sanne Cant (Crelan-Fristads) soloed to victory to claim her 14th straight Belgian Cyclocross national championship title in Lokeren on Saturday. Marion Norbert Riberolle and Alicia Franck rounded out the podium.
"It doesn't look like I will suddenly have great medal chances in Hoogerheide in three weeks' time," Cant told Sporza, adding she would refocus on joining her new WorldTour team Fenix-Deceuninck. "Then it seems better to us to take a few weeks of extra rest and to shift the focus more quickly to the spring on the road."
There were some doubts that Cant could continue her streak after she skipped the majority of the kerstperiode races in December. Norbert Riberolle was considered a favourite to dethrone her rival.
However, the formerly French rider suffered mechanical problems in the opening lap and had to mount a chase from a distance.
Norbert Riberolle closed down the gap to Franck on the second lap and got as close as 30 seconds to Cant but couldn't close the distance and finished in tears at 1:20. Franck finished a distant third at 2:05.
"This is very frustrating," Norbert Riberolle said afterward. "My chain got between the cassette and the rear wheel and got stuck. That had also happened during reconnaissance, but I thought it would be fine once started. Not so. The morale was so completely gone.
"The bad luck was on my side today, unfortunately. I had been looking forward to this and I knew I had a chance to win the tricolor on this course. Now this chance is gone and I have to wait at least another year."
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