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Harris and Van der Poel take Namur cyclocloss World Cup victories

A rare off day for Belgian Sanne Cant led to a change in the women's UCI World Cup leadership, as young Brit Nikki Harris nabbed Sunday's win in Namur, Belgium, while Italian Eva Lechner rose to the top of the standings.

A rare off day for Belgian Sanne Cant led to a change in the women’s UCI World Cup leadership, as young Brit Nikki Harris nabbed Sunday’s win in Namur, Belgium, while Italian Eva Lechner rose to the top of the standings. Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Dutch world champion Mathieu Van der Poel outdueled Belgian rival Wout van Aert for his first World Cup triumph of the season.

The early leaders in the women’s race were Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea), Lechner (Colnago-SudTirol) and Harris’s Belgian teammate Ellen van Loy, with Lechner up front soon after the gun but Harris pulling away on the second lap. Behind, Cant, who took the snagged the BPost Bank Trofee series lead Saturday with a win at the Scheldecross in Antwerp, was lagging around 10th.

Steaming up from behind was French rider Caroline Mani (Raleigh-Clement), who recorded Sunday’s fastest lap time in her runner-up effort. But no one was going to catch Harris. Lechner made a strong move on the final lap, passing Van Loy and American Katie Compton to climb up on the podium and knock Cant (Enertherm-BKCP), 14th on the day, off the top of the World Cup column.

Canadian champ Mical Dyck, 28th in the first round in Las Vegas, came in 31st.

In the men’s race, Koksijde winner Sven Nys (Belgium/(Crelan-AA Drink) and Valkenburg winner Lar van der Haar (The Netherlands/Team Giant-Alpecin) were the early pace-makers, but Van der Poel, van Aert and Kevin Pauwels (Belgium/Sunweb-Napoleon Games) formed the front block on the fifth of nine laps after van der Haar’s crash kept the Giant-Alpecin man from grinding away.

On the final circuit Van der Poel and van Aert battled to nose ahead on the off-camber section while Pauwels bided his time. The Dutchman powered away from the other two, Pauwels shaking his head in concession. Van Aert now sits 29-points ahead of Nys with three round remaining.

Among the Canadian contingent Jeremy Martin (Rocky Mountain) was top Canuck at 46th, with Michael van den Ham right (Red Truck-Garneau) behind him. Aaron Schooler placed 53rd and Hot Sauce rider Mark McConnell took 59th.