World Championships Cyclocross 2007 – Elite Women
Hooglede-Gits (Belgium) Crashes kept favorite Hanka Kumpfernagel from the victory. Salvetat and Leoucher of France take Gold and Bronze with USA's Katie Compton of the USA scores the second Silver for the team.

by Bart Hazen

At 11.00 the woman took the start for their Worlds race in Hooglede-Gits. The three favorites for the race were Hanka Kupfernagel, Marianne Vos and Daphny van den Brand. Other riders to watch for were Helen Wyman, Katie Compton, Maryline Salvetat and Laurence Leboucher.

In the first lap Vania Rossi crashed and held up Helen Wyman. Wyman, one of the outsiders, was immediately left without a chance for a good result. Hanka attacked in the first lap and had a eight seconds lead on Laurence Leboucher, Marianne Vos, Katie Compton, Christelle Ferrier-Bruneau and Maryline Salvetat at the end of the first lap.

In the second lap the French riders came closer to Kupfernagel. But on the sand section it was Kupfernagel who extended her lead up to fifteen seconds on the six chasers (Vos, Van den Brand, Compton, Leboucher, Salvetat and Ferrier).

In the third lap, it was Salvetat and Katie Compton who took the initiative in the chase but Hanka was still leading comfortable. In the penultimate lap Kupfernagel had eleven seconds on Van den Brand and Compton. 2006 World Champion Vos dropped and had no chance to win anymore. In this lap we saw a crash from Van den Brand while Kupfernagel had some mechanical problems and a crash as well. Therefore three riders remained in the lead. The three are Compton, Leboucher and Salvetat.

During the ultimate lap Salvetat led the two other riders and kept a high pace.

Laurence Leboucher dropped off while Compton tried to stay with Salvetat. In the sand section Compton lost a few meters. Salvetat managed to keep the small gap until the finish while the American closed in, but Salvetat held Compton off for the victory. Leboucher completed the podium.

Van Den Brand ended fourth, Kupfernagel fifth, Ferrier-Bruneau sixth and defending champion Vos finished in a seventh place.

Results Top 20:
1 Maryline Salvetat (Fra) 42.57
2 Katie Compton (USA) 0.01
3 Laurence Leboucher (Fra) 0.09
4 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) 0.31
5 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) 0.41
6 Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Fra) 0.43
7 Marianne Vos (Ned) 1.12
8 Birgit Hollmann (Ger) 1.33
9 Helen Wyman (GBr) 2.26
10 Linda Van Rijen (Ned) 2.42
11 Rhonda Mazza (USA) 2.49
12 Loes Sels (Bel) 3.01
13 Susanne Juranek (Ger) 3.17
14 Reza Ravenstein (Ned) 3.27
15 Kerry Barnholt (USA) 3.36
16 Nadia Triquet (Fra) 3.46
17 Stephanie Pohl (Ger) 3.56
18 Sanne Cant (Bel) 4.11
19 Vania Rossi (Ita) 4.14
20 Loes Gunnewijk (Ned)