Ladies Katrijn De Clercq sprints to a 9th place in Scheldeprijs

The Scheldeprijs for women remains in the Noorderkempen. No Zeeland and thus no crosswinds for the women. A free pass for sprinters. Perfect conditions for Katrijn De Clercq, who sprinted impressively to a ninth place in Schoten. "Once Lorena Wiebes turns on the gas, there's little you can do," she says. "I managed to secure my position quite well, although I was stuck on the left for a long time and only managed to come out later. Ninth place isn't bad, but secretly I was hoping for fifth or sixth." 

Two riders managed to break away for a while. Among them was Wilma Aintila (19). The young rider from Lotto Dstny stayed at the front for kilometers and was only caught one and a half kilometers before the finish. "Wilma has an incredible engine. When we hit the cobbles, she still had a 55-second lead. I really thought she could still win, but in the final stretch, of course, there was a lot of hard work being done behind." 

"Thanks to Wilma, we were in a good position. We also worked very well together in the peloton, allowing me to stay at the front. When we arrived at the local laps, there were still three of us. In the end, we were all exhausted (laughs), but I can be satisfied with a top-ten finish." 

Pictures: PhotoNews